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-