Fuck You UB!

So I found out why my UB account wouldn't let me on. I received a email saying it was temporally locked and it was under investigation. I'm kind of fucked if they ask me any real questions. I don't really care that much cause I completely hate UB. It just kind of sucks cause they are like the only site that accepts gift cards.

I played Cody heads up today for 25 dollars. It went really well. I just played my game. I widdled him down and relied on my post flop play. I would discuss in more detail but I really don't want to give Cody any advice.

+106
+25
= +131

This is a fairly quick post and I'm guessing nobody has read my early post today yet so make sure to read and comment both. Also give some suggestions for what you would like from this blog. Till next time.....

- The Degenerate-

Better Late Then Never.

When I first started writing this blog (which seems like a year ago) I was a losing player for the year of 07. But this is no longer true. Lets look at some of my recent (and no so recent) Poker results.

My first session (sense my last entry) I lost 32. This game I was 150 deep. It's been awhile sense this session so I can't remember how I lost my first buy in. I'm pretty sure I was steaming afterwards though. At this point I should have taken a break maybe shot some darts and then waited to buy back in. I did none of this of course and instantly bought back in. My second buy in lasted I think 3 hands. I had top pair and the nut flush draw when it was obvious that I was against a full house. On the flop, Tim Moved in. Mike moved in over the top. I called (steaming and not thinking correctly). Tim had the full house. Mike had a set. But, I had Tim covered so I was drawing to 9 outs to not go broke. I didn't happen so at that point I was stuck a hundo. I took a break and played some darts for about 10 mins. After I took my short break I bought back in for 50. A few hands in I doubled up with the nut flush (if I remember correctly). This gave some of my confidence back I played tight from that point on won a few pots lost a few pots and in the end only losing -32


I also played 2 tournaments sense my last entry. There really isn't much to mention about either. The first one I lost a coin flip with AK. The second one I was drunk and some how managed to get heads up. In the end though I broke even for my tournament play this month.

My next cash game session was fairly small. It was only 4 or 5 handed. I think it was Ted Me, Thrice, Cody, and Lance. If I remember correctly once thrice sat down ted left. I made a few bad calls against Thrice (who I find very difficult to read) and ended up becoming short stacked. I was on the button with pocket jacks. I made a standard 3x raise. Thrice double raised me I was fairly sure he didn't have an over pair so I moved in. He sat for awhile and called with AK. He spiked his Ace and I was out. I then bought back in. From this point I honestly don't remember what happened. Some how we got heads up and played for like an hour and at the end I lost only -23 dollars

My last session I did really well. I played well and picked up some good cards. I'm not saying I didn't get lucky cause I did. It's pretty easy to look like a genius when You flop the nuts and 2 people move in. (oh how I love floping straights) It seemed like every time a short stack moved in I looked down at a big pair. Let's just say it was a good session. At the end of the session I made +158 of profit.

-23
-32
+158
+3 = My math says I'm at +106

I made about 50 bucks from being the house in blackjack against Jared so I wanted to put some money online. I heard that you could use a gift card on UB. So me and thrice decided to split a 100 dollar card and put it on UB. After we put the money online (which took fucking forever and I had to talk to some guy from India) we forgot that once you start a new account onUB you can't transfer money. So I said hey thrice I'm kind of tired you can play tonight and if you lose your 50 the account will be mine and when I play if I lose my 50 the account will be yours. The next day I get on our UB account and there is only 2 cents in the account. I check myspace I got this wonderful message.

um... I kinda lost all your $ in blackjack.... in like 30 seconds.... um I feel shitty about losing your money so ill give you 70$ and we'll call it straight?

I was so pissed. But he bought me a new 50 dollar card. And gave me like 12 dollars. The only problem is I can't get on my ub account. I don't know wtf the problem is. Hopefully I can get some money online. We havent been playing live enough and I want to play some cards. Also I need to make some money cause I owe some people some money online.

I think this blog is about done. Hopefully I'll start posting on here more. I think my next post is going to be a review of Amarillo Slim's biography. Unless I play some actual poker within the next couple days. Then it will be about that. Well till next time....


-The Degenerate-

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Hello everybody. I'm sort of suprised this blog is still up and running. But, sense the blog is still around I'm trying to improve it. Instead of just saying, "Early on I flopped a straight and won a big pot" I'm going to try and remember the board and the betting rounds so the blog will be more enjoyable to read. Though I must say I failed at doing this for this entry. Maybe I'll do better next time.

Also, I changed the comments (with the help of joe) so now even if you don't have a blogger account you can comment.

Anyway, I thought I would review a book for a change. It was called Killer Online Poker 2 by John Vorhaus. I heard the first one was completely awful (I didn't read it so I wouldn't know) I read a few positive reviews for the second one online so I thought I would check it out. I must say it was good. It was very well written. It has a certain conversational quality to it. It was like a friend explaining something to you instead of like a text book. (as I feel some 2+2 books are)

There are a few things I didn't like about it though. This book Talks extensively about note taking. Which I do some what though I don't think it is as necessary as he thinks. The real problem is he has weird ass notes he takes. Which he uses in his examples. I felt I was constantly flipping back and forth trying to figure out what RRR and RWC mean (Raise R Real and Raises With Cheese in case you were wondering) and the many other weird codes.

Also the book goes over a little too much I think. He go's over Cash Games, SitnGo's, MMT, and Heads Up. I can tell that he isn't the best sitngo player and I think the section over that is one of the worst in the book. The Multi Table tournament advice was really good though. Also the heads up section differs a lot from how Harrington's approaches it. Which I found was very interesting. Overall this book was good but, I think it tries to do a little bit too much. I'd recommend reading it if you are new to online poker or trying to sharpen your online game.

Friday I played a live cash game 25-50. It started out really well. Early on I won like a 60 dollar pot with the nut flush. I had the hand typed out but I couldn't remember the specifics of the hand so I thought It would have been a waste. At the time I thought I played it fine though Looking back I think I could have extracted some more money from Nyle. He had the king high flush. So I prolly could have got an extra 30 from him. There was noway I could put him on that though.

Later in that night there was a hand which I played like shit. I thought I 'd mention it for you. There was a straddle. So Jared from early position raised 3 dollars on top. It was folded around to me in the big blind I looked down at pocket 10's. I was in awful position so I wasn't sure how I wanted to play it. I thought about moving in. I thought that would be an awful play. I would be risking like 50 (what Jared had in front of him) to win like 5. I thought about raising but he is kind of a calling station so I thought I would just be making a larger pot with a hand I might have to give up after the flop. I just called. The flop came something like 936 with 2 spades. I thought this was a good flop for me. My plan was to check to him (which I thought he would Cont. Bet) Then I could just raise him and take the pot down. I checked and he fired out around 10 dollars. Then I made a kamikaze all in.

After I moved in and he thought for a half of a second and asked someone if he busted if they would loan him money to play they said prolly then he called. He flipped over Pocket jacks. The turn and the river didn't bail me out and I lost a giant pot.

Now lets look at my move in on the flop. This was an awful move. It's hard to put him on just high cards (on the flop) because if he was cont. betting he would have prolly bet less. There was no need to raise on the flop. If he has just two high cards then I can just smooth call him and let him be drawing to 6 outs on the turn. On the turn I'd be able to bet and take it down if he still just has 2 high cards. If he has an over pair then I'd lose the minimum. Also, if he has something like ace-9 I can prolly get some extra value out of my hand.


later on I lost a few more pots and was down t0 30 ish. I'd explain my reasoning and my hole cards but it was such a bad play I'm embarrassed by it. Though I'll give a little info about it. I was in a pot with ted and I thought ted was weak and instead of raising him on the flop I just smooth called him I just waited till he sucked out on me. Then he pushed me in and I called. It was maybe the worst play I have ever made.

I re bought and played tight and slowly built my stack to about 91. So at cash out I only lost 9

On Saturday we played another game. I really don't know how I lost. I don't think I even played bad. I think I'm gambling just a little too much. When I first started this blog I was having a lot of questions about my game. Though after reading the first 30 page of "Inside the Poker Mind" I think I figured out what was wrong and I think I'll be OK. It was nothing big but I think it will improve my game. At the end of the night I lost 20 (which for being 100 deep isn't too bad)

-20
-9
+32
= +3

So right now I'm up to 3 dollars. It's pretty shitty I know. But hey it's better then being down. I'm nearly positive that my next 3 sessions will be big wins. Also, I would like to apologize to anyone that read this blog before I edited to it. I meant to save as draft and I hit publish. Though now I think the entry is good. Till Next Time

-The Degenerate-

Deal Or No Deal.

The first part of this blog is going to go over my wins and loses so far the month. Then I'm going to go over a certain situation that came up in my last session.

I've played 2 tournaments, and 2 cash games sense my last blog.

The first tournament was a 10 dollar re buy. It had a nice long structure thanks to me. I played really well. But, I got myself into this one situation which I think is worth noting. I had the nut flush draw and I was pushed all in on the flop and I was getting 4 to 1 on my money. Mathematically it would be impossible to fold. I knew though that I was the best player at the table and I would really hate to call all my chips off with just a draw. I made the call and someone else also had a flush draw so 2 of my outs were dead. I sucked out, and ended up winning the tournament. First place got 190. I profited 140 sense I spent 50 dollars in re buys So +140.

Later that night I played a small cash game. I was really tired and played like shit. I luckily only lost 5 bucks though I prolly should have lost more. -5. My next cash game I made +7 dollars. I felt like I should have made more. I was playing too loose for an 8 handed game. The table was crazy loose. I played the opposite way I was suppose to. I should have played tighter and waited for one of the many idiots at the table to dump there chips off to me.It seemed like there was never a pot less then 30 dollars. Which is kind of crazy for a 25-50 game. Once it got to around 5 handed I started doing very well. Though the last like 30 minutes I think I played badly cause I knew we were cashing out soon and I didn't really want to play a big pot. It put me in a position where I was bluffed out of this one pot. Though I was really in a position where I couldn't call. At the end though I was at +7. I also played a tourney where I broke even in.


So according to my last blog I was down 108 for the year so
-108
+140
-5
+7

So According to my math I'm up +32 for the year


Yesterday we played a 50 dollar freeze out tournament. The biggest tournament buy in we have ever done by far. (though are cash games have got in much larger). Only 7 players played. The blinds started out really small compared to the blinds and the blinds went up slowly (thanks to me and mike). I started out playing fairly aggressive. Normally I would play really tight in the beginning cause I can easily sit back and wait for a hand with out any risk of blinding myself to debt. The reason I didn't though was cause every one was just sitting around waiting for hands. I thought this would be a good point to play aggressive and hopefully accumulate some chips. Early on this was working very well. Though eventually I got myself into some dicey situations where I made a few bad reads against Jared and got short stacked. But, I'm a short stack ninja and play to win (oh and sucked out once) and ended up heads up.

Me and Mike played heads up for nearly 2 hours. First place got 300 and second got 50. At one point Mike had a 2 to 1 chip lead on me and he offered me 100 and he would get 250. Now I've been ridiculed for not taking this deal. I'm well aware that mike is the better heads up player but to be honest I wasn't playing badly. It wasn't like I got crazy lucky against mike we were jabbing back and forth and there was no way mike was that big of a favorite. I was one double up away from being about dead even in chips. If that would have happened I think I would have been the favorite to win. Not because I'm a better player then mike but because, my confidence would have been threw the roof and mike would have been super pissed that he hadn't been able to finish me off. There is so many other reasons why I didn't take the deal also.

The first reason is cause I hate making deals. (though not taking deals has fucked me over twice) I feel it just doesn't work with my competitive nature. The second reason was by mike offering me a deal when he had a chip lead it kept the idea in my mind that I could still win this. Also I wanted to prove to myself and to everyone else that mike isn't THAT much better then me. I well aware that mike is a better player then me. Everyone thinks though that I can't even hold my own against mike. I wanted to prove them wrong by coming from behind and beating mike. And I didn't. Even as I write this I'm going back and forth in my mind about if I should have made a deal or not. Near the end the blinds were about to go up. Which would have meant mikes chip advantage would give him more of an advantage but also it would have meant there would have been less skill involved and would have given me a larger chance to win. Another thing to take into acount is I was becoming tired and I was losing my concentration near the end. So the deal may have been smart Looking back I'm glad I didn't take the deal. I would have just laid in bed going damn I wonder what would have happened had I not made a deal. And I'm positive had I won nobody would have asked hey "Thomas Why didn't you take that deal?"

Damn it seems every post I make is gigantic. And the worst part is I still have more to talk about. But it's completely un related to poker. (I'm the degenerate gambler I have to talk about all the other shit I gamble on also.) I'd just like to say thank you colts you have made me 50 dollars. Also I might have a weight loss bet I'd have to lose 50 pounds in 6 months. I really think I could do it. The bet is only for a 100 bucks. Which if it was for 150 I think I would prolly be more convinced to do it. I think this blog is getting too long, So I think I'll end it now. Till Next time.

-The Degenerate Gambler-

It's been awhile....

It's been awhile but, It seems like a good time for a post. I have a few things to rant about that I'm sure you'll all enjoy.

Online poker is a bitch. Seriously. If you ever feel like you want to deposit some money online just donate it to charity. It will go to a better use and will make you feel way better. Anyway, I went bust online. I wish I was surprised but I'm really not. I can't manage my money online.(nor in person really) I always jump limits when it's not correct to. It's way more fun to play 50-1 then it is 25-50. And it's more fun to play 1-2 then 50-1.I took some bad beats along the way but there were many times I could have minimized my loses better. Oh and if I ever find out who NYGANGSTA420 is I'm seriously going to kick there ass.

Anyway I'd like to discuss this hand I played in a 20+2 deep stack event on poker stars. We were about 2 and half hours into the tournaments and I'm about 50 times the big blind. (I originally had the whole had typed out but it was kind of wordy so I thought I would just give the basics of it.) I basically got myself in a coin flip with a pair and a flush draw. There was a critical point in the hand where I put about a 5^th of my stack into the pot with the pair and flush draw when I should have moved in or folded. I called and was raised all in. I could either call and hope it's a coin flip (which I could be up against a set though I thought this was unlikely) or fold and have 40x left. I called and didn't hit. The real problem with this hand was when I put a 5^th of my stack into the pot. I should have decided then if I wanted to push in and coin flip for my tournament or fold and pick a better spot. If I move in I get all the fold equity and if I'm called I'm prolly a coin flip. I think looking back I should have folded. The table was real weak and I still had around 50 big blinds left and could easily wait for a much better spot.

A good friend of mine staked me in two tournaments today and I'd like to go over how I busted out of both of them. In the first one this hand happened within the first blind level. The player under the gun double raises. I knew the guy prolly had a monster cause it is very common for weak online players to double raise with monsters. I smooth call with pocket 8. I think there was one other caller. The flop comes down K86 with 2 clubs on the flop. He bets I call and the other player folds. You can make a case for raising here but if he pocket aces then It doesn't matter if I raise or not the money is going in on the turn. If he has ace king or pocket queens or jacks he'll prolly take a stab at it on the turn. So I'll get more value out of my hand when he has those hands. The turn brings a 6. I'm real happy about this card it gives me a full house. He bets small and I smooth call again. The river is a blank. He bets fairly small and I raise him. He double raises me. I like an idiot move in. Now If I sat there and thought about the likely hands I might not have went bust. The possible hands are pocket aces or pocket kings ace king, queens and Thats about it. Now Pocket kings have me beat, Pocket aces are possible but I think they would have just smooth called on the river there. Queens wouldn't have double raise me on the river. So basically it was obvious what he had. When I moved in he instantly called with pocket kings. Though I can see someone might make a case for moving in there cause gathering chips early is essential to winning this big online tournament I think it was clearly a mistake on my part.

The other bust out I was cruising along doing fine the blinds were 100-200 (no ante) and I had a little over 6 k in chips. I really hadn't played to many big pots but I had accumulated a lot of chips. I can't remember the specifics of the hand but I lost half of my stack when the board was 4 carded to the flush and I had the king high flush and my opponent had the ace high flush. Once I lost that I was at 3k and was kind of desperate and didn't catch any real big hands. It seems one of my biggest problem with online tournaments is my quest to play small ball and keep the pots small and gathering enough chips early to have a chance to win. I could have made case for just calling on the river with the king high flush and not lose half my stack and I could have smoothed called on the river with my full house and not risked going broke.

Now I'd like to go over my live sessions for January. (I didn't do so well) My first session (or well it's hard to say I can't remember if it was in January or December so I thought I might as well say it was from January) I played at ted's house a 5 dollar tournament which was a poop shoot and I just didn't get lucky. (I mentioned it a little in my first post) Also that night we played a small cash game. I played like shit during it. I really did. I couldn't focus on playing a 20 dollar buy in cash game when I could go home and play online for double or even triple that. I was bored and played like shit. So For the cash game I lose 40 (I think i'm not completely sure.) and 5 from the tourney. So -45. Then my next session I played in a cash game and lose 140. (the start of January wasn't so good) So at that point I was down -195. Then my next session I won a hundo on top of my buy in. so at that point I was down -95. My next session was a cash game and I cashed out 66 ahead of my buy in. so I was at -29. My next session is kind of a blur. I played for 12 hours. I think I lost 70. I'm not real positive though. If that's correct then I lost 99 dollars for the month. Plus I lost 9 dollars in late night Chinese poker. So that puts me at -108 for the month. I'm really disappointed with this last month of play. I I took some really bad beats for that 140 lost early in January I flopped a Full house. The board was AA6 I had pocket 6's. I was called all in by 2 ppl. They both had the ace turn came a 9 river came another 9 giving them a higher full house. Though I must say besides getting unlucky this month (which happened a lot) I steamed more then I normally do and this led to me having a few big number loses. I didn't know when to quit a lot of the time. Well this has been my first negative month in awhile and lets hope it is the last.

One last thing I would like to address before I go. I was going to discuss it in detail but I'm not going to (cause this post is already huge) but believe me mike isn't that big of a donkey for what he did with his 2 pair. I also read 2 books this month. The biggest game in town. And Ace on the river. Both were great and I'd recommend them to any poker players. Well folks I think that is enough randomness for one blog. I'm out

-The Degenerate Gambler-

A Quick Post.

I just got knocked out of the 1 dollar re buy tournament. I know I shouldn't be mad cause it was only a few bucks. I'm just pissed. I got 37 first place got 450ish. I think partly why I am mad is because Tim was annoying the shit out of me while I was playing. I should have just blocked him and concentrated. I found another hole in my online game. When I raise I nearly always cont. bet. I get myself trapped too often because of that. I need to know when to just realize that the flop had to have helped the other person. Oh well. For the most part I think I played well.

Right now I'm pissing my money away in a 5 card draw game on stars. Well I just busted from there. I'm done with playing draw till I read the mike Caro draw section in ss. I ordered a ton of poker books last night. Ace on the river, Read em an reap by Phil Hellmuth, book of bluffs, inside the poker mind, and the mathematics of poker. I need to start reading some more. When I first started out that's all I did was read poker books now I rarely read. I'm going to start trying to read a little more.

So, I really need to get lucky in cards within the next couple days. My roll is really low. And I think I'm just going to stay away from cash games for now till I get a deep cash in another tournament. I'm registered for a 4.40 180 sit and go so I have to go.

-The Degenerate-

Online Poker

Second post for the say. Wow I really am a degenerate. Online poker just hasn't went very well today. I lost a boatload. I just played this bounty tournament. I think one of my major problems is I make loose calls with like a queen 8 suited or something to try and collect chips when it wont hurt me too much but the risk reward factor just isn't that great enough. I just need to wait for a better spot sometimes. I get impatient trying to collect a big stack.

There was this one point where I had 8 9 clubs on the button and it was folded around to me and I made a bad play. I was fairly short stacked. I needed to just move in or folded. So I limped. Then someone raised and I just folded. When it was folded around to me on the button I should have just moved in. Most of the time they will fold and I will pick up the blinds and antes. If I am called I have two live cards(most of the time). If they have a small pair I'm a slight favorite. As Joe sebok would says I made the compromise play. Oh well.

Another tournament I had kings and it was like raise re re re raise and I had kings and I really wanted to fold. It was basically impossible though. At the limits I play people are just morons. Last time I was in a situation like this the person had ace jack suited. I moved in. And the person had aces. I can't imagine my hand ever being good there. But it just seems impossible to fold. oh well.

There was another interesting hand I raised in early position with aces. I didn't raise enough though I think only 2.5x the big blind. Though it was my normally raise. So it might have been correct. Everyone folds around to the big blind he calls. Flop is like K93. 2 spades on flop. He checks. I bet a little more then half the pot, He calls. Turn is another spade. and He just moves in.

I sit there and he moved in instantly so I really think he has it. I think it possible he has Ak. Though it's just as likely he has some strange 2 pair like 93, King 3 or possibly a set. But I really put him on the flush. I have the ace of clubs though so he can't have the nut flush but he could easily have the flush. Though even if he has the flush I could suck out. Also if he has 2 pair I could suck out and if he has a set I could suck out. I really thought he had a flush though. So I folded. I'm not really sure that was the correct move. If anybody starts reading this though I would really like there impute on it.

I'm done playing for today. I need to clean my room. After that I might read some of Killer Online Poker 2 so I can stop sucking ass at poker. later folks

-The Degenerate-