Played some poker tonight. Took the scenic route, but ended in the right the right place and that’s what counts, right?

Things were going alright till I started playing this one guy. In the first 20 hands or so, he open or 3bet shoved about 15 times for at least 5x pot, but I never had close to anything to call. Then he seemed to settle down a bit, going to normal size bets (potting it) but again I couldn’t hit anything and he grew a stack very quickly. After a bit of time we played this hand:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3307639 – Pretty gross after calling a 4bet with 87o. I really should be betting this flop, but at the time I was thinking he is going to bluff shove the turn and there aren’t many cards in the deck that I’m scared of.

Other pots of interest in that match:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3307674 – This was his first over bet of the match…

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3307756 – Thanks for the note.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3307673 – Interesting hand here, I called the river pretty quick. I didn’t really know what his donks meant at this point, but had no reason not to believe they were strong. He basically can’t rep anything here on the river with that c/r. He quit me after this hand still up a few hundo.

Couple more hands of note vs other players:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3307762 – With his bet sizing on the river, I was pretty sure I’m ahead here like always, so thanks donk.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3307768 – This was my very last hand of the night. I really don’t like it. His 3 bet range is really tight; being optimistic we’ll say it is (88+, AK). I told myself I am folding to a bet on the turn, but he checked and insta shoved the river. I just shook my head and inside I am yelling at myself FOLD. My figures didn’t listen and I made what I think is a bad call. Oh well… what do I know.

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Also got a new table MOD for FTP. My friend Jordan hooked me up with the info of the guy that made it and he was quite helpful getting everything set up. It looks super nice:

I actually did a little bit of editing to it myself, taking the .com name off the table, and also changing the note icons closer to the default ones. You can get this one and lots of others at tiltbuster.com.

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Edit:  I was just watching the nosebleed game going on railheaven and saw a super interesting pot.  Someone please tell me what is going on here:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3307880

Running SUPER hot my last 1,300 hands or so. Crushing at like 100bb/100. I should have played like 4x as many hands at this point, but heh, winnings are about right. =)

I hope I get tired of Chinese or big 2 soon, so I can start focusing on real poker again.

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Sharks won their opener tonight! Here’s to an undefeated season!

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Took Eddy (cat) to the vet today for his 1 year booster shots. He’s doing well, but I talked to the vet a bit about getting him declawed. It’s something Kristen and I didn’t really wanna do, but at this point I am never gonna buy new furniture with this cat around. The surgery is not cheap so I’m sure that’ll play a factor in the decision. If anybody knows anything about this process let me know.

No poker today, in fact this month has been pretty bad in that regard, but I have some other things on my mind to blog about anyways. Good stuff though.

First, I reached a big milestone for myself today. Shot -1, and therefore under par for the first time in disc golf. I know not many people aren’t that familiar with this game, but it is something I have spent a great deal of time playing over the last few years and has always been a goal to get to those funny looking negative numbers. I was quite stoked to accomplish this feat. I donno really know what the next goal to set for myself is from here. I guess trying for a course record (donno what that is) or maybe some tournament play.

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Almost burned the apartment down tonight. I was getting ready to cook some steaks and had a pan on the stove heating up to sear the meat. Well I suppose I had it heating on there a bit too long, cause it got really hot. I sprayed some Pam on into the pan, and the stuff basically evaporated in the air. LOL. So I decided to use some olive oil instead. I open the bottle and pour a dash into the pan. Boom, the whole pan goes up in flames. Like you’d see on a TV cooking show. But it kept going, getting bigger and bigger, and I was like, “Oh, shit”.

I grab the pan and kinda was holding it in the air seeing if it was gonna go down at all, but the flames were getting real close to the cabinets. I yelled to Kristen to open the fucking door, and few seconds later I was standing in the driveway with the flaming pan. The fire wasn’t going anywhere, but I managed to finally put it out by turning it over on the ground and cutting off the oxygen.

LOL, I was legitimately scared the whole place was gonna catch burn down, it was quite a scene. I haven’t really accessed the damage yet, but I hope the pan can be saved. We just got a really nice set from the wedding.

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In other news, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about taking on a student with some kinda staking deal in poker. I staked a friend before, and while it didn’t really go anywhere, I was happy with agreement while it lasted. However, this time I want to do it a bit different. Last time I already knew my friend was a decent poker player, however because of the distance, I didn’t feel like I could do as much as I wanted to help him improve his game.

This time, I want to find somebody locally that I can spend a lot of time with developing their game. I don’t claim to be the best poker player in the world, but I do believe that I can teach someone the tools and fundamentals of the game to become a winning poker player. Hopefully in the ideal situation works out where I can make some money, feel like I am being productive, and change somebody’s life all at the same time.

I’m haven’t really worked out the details yet, but am going to be pretty particular about who I take on. I am considering looking around the college for students who I feel will be able to mentally be able to handle the game, are already semi finically secure, and have a lot of time on their hands.

Hopefully this works out.

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Oh, and ran red hot at Chinese tonight. So go me!

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Gone Baby Gone - Really good.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Movie - Really Bad.

Wow, interesting day of poker. It can be summed up nicely with a great graph:

I started off running awfully, went on a nice run, and then had a pretty awful downfall and end up about $700 under EV (heh, I only complain about running under EV, but never brag about running good. I promise next time I run significantly well I’ll post it.).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3270100 – like 3^rd hand of the day. Good way to start.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3270137 – I had a feeling about this one.

Went on a nice run thanks to my opponents:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3270205 – Thank you (actually looking back that could be a pretty good spot to bluff for the villain).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3270623

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3270775

Then this guy totally owned the fuck outta me (he was not good):

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3270879 – standard

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3270971 – Ugh

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3270985 – Yup

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3271019 – After looking at the other hands this spot is sooooo sick. Ok he is 100% c/minraiseing trips, a straight, or a boat on the turn, and is never bluff raising this river, so his river bet is exactly 86 or 77. But can I fold here? I didn’t.

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After all the real poker and dinner, we played a marathon session of Chinese poker, where I destroyed Seth (cardcore). I value his money a lot higher then the rest of the table. =)

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Oh during this all of this, I was watching the live stream of the WSOPE ME. This thing was insane, as the final has been running for almost 24 hours. These guys must be exhaust… and as I write this John Juanda just took down the bracelet. Congrats JJ.

GG September.

I don’t have any real feelings towards the outcome of September. After everything added up with rakeback, ect. I came out just over a $7,000 winner. That’s a solid number that allows me to live comfortably, but at the same time I am a bit disappointed with the number of actual hands I spent playing poker. My goal was around 25k, and I barely eclipsed 15,000. But, I don’t play poker to necessarily make hundreds of thousands of dollars; rather I like the life style it provides me. Which says if I don’t feel like working, don’t. At the same time, this was supposed to be grind month, so I am a bit conflicted.

Next month hopefully I’ll pull off 5 digits, and everybody will be happy. By everybody I mean me. =)

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Over the past couple weeks I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading and made my way through a bunch of books.

Fierce Invalids from Hot Climates - Tom Robins

A Pray for Owen Meany – John Irving

Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut

Elements of Poker – Tommy Angelo

I will say the first three were all very solid and would recommend them, but as only the last one is a poker book it’s the only one I’m gonna go into any further detail.

Let me start off by saying that in this point in my career I honestly believe there is little that can really be gained from reading most poker books. I do not need to learn the fundamentals of poker, nor how most authors would play a particular situation. That said, there were three factors that lead me to purchasing this particular book. Even though I know almost nothing about Tommy Angelo, I had seen his name come up a couple times on the 2+2 forums with nothing but good things spoken about his coaching. Then Raptor mentioned in his blog that he was doing some coaching with Tommy Angelo. And lastly a friend recently mentioned he just picked up the book himself and it had little to do actually how to play poker, and more so the mental stuff.

Ok, so after reading the book I think it can be summed up pretty easily: Always play you’re A-game and don’t tilt, bad shit is gonna happen to you so deal with it. It was kinda funny because I read ‘The Secret’ not so long ago, and it was basically contradicting that whole idea of think positively. Because he was so respected by a lot of the members of the poker forums I expected him to focus a lot on internet poker stuff, but the internet poker section is literally 2 pages long. I would say if you are an internet player looking to get into live games he gave an excellent write up of proper edict and procedure of live play. Which is worth reading. But beyond that I was a little disappointed with the book as a whole. Oh well, like I said before I am at the point that I can’t really expect all that much from a book anyways. Though I would love it if Phil Galfond wrote something. =)

I’ll write up a nice blog tomorrow about my month as a whole, but in the mean time I got some of the more interesting hands I’ve played in awhile.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3257043 – Ugh, this one might be weighted towards a fold, but it is sooo tough. Good players just pair the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3257190 – another really tough spot. I felt like it was a fold on the flop, cause limp/raises are so strong, but at the same time that play is so weak. I was talking to a friend who suggested donk/folding the flop, and then shoving most turns. It sounds reasonable, enough.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3257154 – Finally made a big laydown. This has to be a fold, but I’m sure it was the time I was ahead. =)

And now for some more fun hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3257110 – OMG hero call/soul read.

Yesterday some donks I was playing at the same time both couldn’t lose a hand and both ran up big stacks, but then I coolered both of their asses, so weeee:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3253607

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3253512

Also, Tim Lincecum for Cy Young. One Time!

I have a splitting headache right now. I donno where that came from cause I don’t get headaches often, but it’s been on and off all day. Poker today was also quite the headache. Got off to an awful start and just grinded forever to get back to even. It wasn’t the fun kinda robusto either, more like slamming your cock in a door a punch of times wondering the next time if it is gonna hurt more or less. Let’s just get the graph outta the way:

Also, here are some of the more interesting or fun hands from the last day or two:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3241440 – I think this is a pretty interesting spot. The villain should be donking the flush here like 110%, but I guess he undonked himself into a nice win. I think my line is alright.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3244777 – Bink!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3248584 – This hand is pretty LOL. I think the c/r here on the end is good in theory, but nice check buddy.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3248720 – so much for soul reads.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3249434 – This hand really perplexes me. I really am unsure of the best line, so if anyone has any ideas let me know. I could bet/call the flop, but the board is so dry most of his range the is getting it in is Kx and most under pairs will come along on the turn anyways. So now on the turn, my plan was to c/r all in, but then he pot donks it. That is strong right? Can I fold now? Seems really weak to me though. I donno. I could bet/call turn? Like I said I am unsure about this spot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3249454 – This guy ran up a nice stack.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3249741 – Another villain playing a hand as bad as possible but still getting paid off the max.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3249749 – Unlucky, probably don’t even need to post crap like this.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3249900 – I liked this hand, thank you for not making me look stupid.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3249918 – Just a sick sick flop. All these flush hands kinda summarize my day. Oh well, it woulda been a cooler for him too.

Sorry for all the hands histories (though I assume if you don’t care about them you can skip em, and if you like them then the more the merrier). I have been kinda trying to push myself to play some more 2/4nl. Like I have said before, I am rolled for it so me not playing more is just –EV in opportunity cost, but the big swings still can kinda get to me.

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On another note, the last Giants baseball game of the season is tomorrow. Record wise they are about where anyone would put them at the start of the season, bottom 5 of the MLB. But I think this season was more about seeing what kinda young talent was in the organization, and to my happiness it looks like the team is on more of a 2-3 year rebuilding process then the 4-5 it looked like coming into spring training.

The good news is hockey season is almost here. Go Sharks! Also, if the 49ers somehow pull off a win tomorrow, it will probably put them in a position that will make most of the rest of the season games mean something. Which would be a good thing.

After not sleeping forever the other day, it turned out to be pretty difficult to get back to sleep, who woulda thought? I went to bed around 1:30am, read for a bit, but couldn’t fall asleep it shortly after Kristen got up for work. Then I was woken up an hour later when she locked herself out. I easily fall back to sleep cause I am exhausted at this point, when some asshole that I guess does the yardwork around here, started blasting his leaf blower right outside my window. I’ve been woken up by this before, but it was never a huge problem, but for some reason this guy was out there for blowing shit in circles for close to an hour. I was not happy.

I don’t really remember anything else about the last few days, so I’ll just post some hands.

Vs biggest monkey I have played in awhile, one of those guys that is either up 4 digits on you in 10 minutes or donks off his whole roll:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3236162
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3236179
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3236203
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3236223
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3236252

And my favorit hand I have played in some time, I heart Zeebo:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3241746

So… after pulling that all-nighter and then getting about 4 hours of sleep on consecutive nights, I managed to catch up with 16.5 hours of sleep last night. LOL. Because I wasn’t able to sleep at all over the past few nights I took a TylenolPM before I crashed out, and I guess that combined with my exhaustion put me in to a minor coma. =)

Not much poker today, instead played a round of disc golf. I have been shooting awesome the last few days, tying my best round on one course and setting a new personal best on another. Still working on hitting the magic number 0, sooo close.

Also, I just discovered Hulu.com today on the net. It’s not the first TV video streaming site on the internet, plus I am already familiar with other days of downloading tv shows/movies, however I think it is really cool that a lot of the networks are starting putting their content out there for free. The TV execs seem smarter than their music industry counterparts, who managed to procrastinate long enough to lose huge portions of their core demographic to bitorrent/P2P sites.

Wow. More ugly stuff. Still not sleeping at all and still not winning poker hands. I ran sooo bad this morning.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3224090 – Don’t think I can ever fold here with a pretty solid kicker. Why he is floating a gutshot, not 100% sure.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3224027 – this is my fault for getting it in so good.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3224161 – Nice hand sir.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3224163 – Very next hand after the deuces. Sigh.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3224176 – Standard set up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3224165 – This hand is just LOL, vs a complete monkey too. How he managed to lose the minimum here almost tilts me.

I won a little back tonight, but got too tired to continue playing. It was nice to run good for the month while it lasted, but officially under EV now. Sorry about all the ugly stuff hopefully the next blog I’m not complaining.