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-