CARDRUNNERS

Okay...it's time to go insane again!! yippee. Vegas is a lot of fun hanging out with the boys, but poker is not going too well. I basically ran blazing hot for about two weeks, but things are starting to take a major turn for the worse. It's okay, because I've made a ton of money in the past couple of weeks but it's still infuriating to lose just about every big pot. Middle set isn't good enough, I need quads or better.

I'm gonna post some hands bc I'm bored and feel like venting. Maybe this blog will stop being so poker heavy at some point...that point isn't yet.

I run aces into ace king

dude check/calls 66 in a 4-bet and bustos me

i hate the river

middle set no good!

kings have to be good when i flop middle set...right?!?!

whatre the odds of kings holding up on a jack high board...0%?

i have kings, you have KQ on Qxx...lets go bust!!

hmm...are aces ever good here?

blah...gonna go eat at shintaro tonight to make me feel better...poker is the blowy

Well I'm making VPPs slower than I thought and need 5k to get to platinum for next month. I guess I didn't play a whole lot in June although I'm up about 3k for the month I think. Still have some time left. But that tv seems so far away right now. 31k fpps. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to get it in time to get myself a nice tv or something. I think I just need to focus on getting more hands in next month.

Today was ok. After work I was itching to play and actually was having a nice 6 table session going at 100nl. I was up a decent amount and made some stupid plays and also some pretty sweet ones. Like for instance raising 10s then betting a 1074 board, checking the turn to induce a bet, he checks, river filled me up and i checked hoping for a bet from a worse hand or a bluff. he bet $10 and i pushed for $100. he thought a looooooooong time before calling with with 33 for 3s over 4s. I was surprised as i thought this was an insta-call for donks.

One day though I'm gonna go on such a heater. So many times today I got outdrawn in huge pots. I also luckboxed my way to a 4th in a 18 man sng for the first payout...woo hoo. lol, i ran JJ into AA when I was 2nd in chips to the guy in first. and he was raising practically every hand so this sucked.

Anyway, at the cash tables this total donk proceeded to catch a 3 outer on me then get lucky and hit a 4 outer with his AK on a AKQ board vs. my J10. We got it all in on the flop and i knew the A river was bad.

But seriously, I can't believe how bad these guys are at stars. It's unreal. Like in the last hand, he donk bet into me on the flop for $3 into a $10 pot or so, i raised to $12 and he minraised me. It's like, wtf are you doing? So I pushed figuring him for a huge hand. After he sucks out he thinks he's like the most awesome player in the world. Wouldn't have sucked as much but that was the very last hand I was gonna play for the session. Ugh.

But the bet sizes are ridiculous. I'm reading their bets so well...I am figuring out what they're doing a high percentage of the time. I know when they have monsters and I know when they're full of it. They have noooooooo idea how to bet or disguise their hands. It's hilarious. If only the cards would just fall my way for a good session I could have a few 5-6 buyin days instead of a 1-2 day.

Then right now I put in a short session of 2/4 horse and 2 tables of 2/4 omaha 8/b. I really love these games and people do not know how to play at all. They call down in 8/b games with mediocre highs and lows thinking they can win one. Then I scoop when my AA25 fits with the board nicely. I ended up $180 in the 45 min. session. Good day.

So I've been terrible about updating my blog again. I hit a good run of updating there for a while, but things have just been so crazy busy that I've fallen off.

Since my last post of running horrid, I've been on absolute tear. The day after I wrote that post, I hit two 1 outers in an hour. Though admittedly, on both hands, I flopped the nuts, got sucked out, and had to re-suck 1 outer style. The first of these was getting it allin with 55 on AJ5 vs AJ...turn ace, river 5. The second one was I called a 5 way minraise out of the blinds with 7s3s and the flop came 4s5s6h. I got it allin vs Js8s...turn was a spade, river was the 6 of spades. That felt really really good.

Since then I've been playing really well. I am running at something like 15bb/100 over my last 10k hands...I've also been playing some 5/10 and 10/20 again when the games look good so it's real nice to feel like I have my confidence coming back.

The last week or so has been pretty busy...last weekend I went to Chicago for a family reunion. There were probably 40 or so cousins there, a quarter or more of whom I'd never met. It was pretty cool to meet a lot of people I'm related to, though honestly it doesn't mean much to me...a lot of my family is very traditional (my parents are far more progressive) so I could sense some of them being very hesitant and concerned about me working for CardRunners. When I tell my parents friends that I played poker professionally for a year and am a consistent winning player, they think it's very cool and inspiring. A lot of my parents friends are incredibly successful and know other traders/businessmen/politicians/lawyers who have also been fascinated by the game of poker and agree that it's a game of skill. For my 22nd birthday, my mother sent me a whole box of poker books, including one about the similarities between poker and going to trial written by one of her colleagues at the George Washington University Law School...this really meant a lot to me and showed me how proud she was of whatever I had chosen to pursue. But at the reunion, things seemed different. One cousin boasted that his company "at least provided a product"...that upset me somewhat, but as he is quite elderly and doesn't fully understand how many people's lives CardRunners has positively affected, I'm going to cut him some slack.

Anyways...last Sunday night I flew into Vegas straight from Chicago. CardRunners was nice enough to fly my girlfriend out because I moved up my flight and as she's going to Israel in a week, I wouldn't have seen her for 5 weeks if they didn't bring her out. I have good bosses

I got in and checked into the Mirage. I ran over to the Rio to meet up with Taylor, Andrew, and Gaucho. I also saw my friend Chris Vaughn from Bluff Magazine. Shira's plane was late so I played 2/5 for 45 minutes to pass the time, after flopping 44 vs AK on a flop of K44, I made a quick $600 and heading back to the Mirage to meet my girlfriend.

We had an absolutely fantastic time...she left on Wednesday night and I miss her already...I just feel kind of lonely now that she's gone. In between my shifts at the Rio, we lay out at the pool and had some drinks. We ate some really good food, like a night at Shintaro which is a damn good restaurant. And we saw some pretty good shows...Matsuri and Cirque du Soleil's "Mystere." Cirque was especially awesome because the host/clown of the show came out into the audience and picked me to come onstage. He put me in this black box onstage (if you've ever seen the show) and I got to do a bit of acting...they also kept a spotlight on Shira the whole time because it was supposed to be some big joke about how they had imprisoned me and were stealing my girl I actually wish I could've been in the audience to see all of it as the doors of the black box were locked so I couldn't see out the front. After they dragged the box backstage and pulled me out, I got to meet a bunch of the actors as well as the production managers. I was kinda in a daze from the whole thing so I don't remember every moment, but it was definitely an experience I'll never forget. I used to be an actor, but this is probably the largest crowd I've ever performed to Maybe I should move out to Vegas to pursue a different type of dream...

Anywayzzz, I think I'll leave this blog with one last note. One of my very good friends has made the final table of the $1500 PLO rebuys tourneys. Rob "Grimhogun" Fellner is a really great player, and an awesome guy. He really deserves this final table and though he's a bit of shortstack, I have faith that with a bit of luck he can def take it down.

Gl kid

<3,
Ezra

I never did a full vegas trip report so here goes.

Got in in the afternoon on june 2nd and went straight to the hotel. I was stayin at imperial palace with 2 of the guys while the other 4 were staying at the jockey club (obviously we were conserving money). Right off the bat i lost $150 at craps. I was so ready to play cuz i read up on the game and was excited to get to the table. I wasn't upset though cuz i was there to have fun with my buddies.

We all went to the mirage for the buffet which was pretty good and then some played poker and some did other things. I started off dropping $100 at 3/6 after trying some stupid plays including trying to bluff a player with A10 on a Q high board. He had KK and proceeded to just call me down, this made me giggle.

So then I went over to 1-5 stud which was my bread and butter game back in the ol' days at potawatomi. I managed to get all that money back and then some which was sweet. Some interesting hands:

I get dealt Jx J and just call. A super tight player raises with a K up. Obviously he has a pair of kings. I elect to call. 4th gives him a low card and I catch an ace. He bets, i raise $5 and he thinks and folds. I dont say anything. lol. later i got caught on a bluff and he figured out i was bluffing in this hand. I just laughed. I knew what he had and scared him off it. That's what my stud game is all about. Representation and aggression. When I go back I should play a 2-10 game.

The hand I bluffed i was betting hard the whole way and on 7th had nothing, but my board read AcKdQdJd. I gotta have something, right? Well these players are donks and even though i bet 7th blind, the guy calls me with Qs. Wtf?

Anyway, a while later I get a 10 up and see no other 10s and think, man, wouldn't rolled up 10s be nice right now. I look down and bingo, there they were, lol. i run goot at stud. This guy who's been somewhat of a bully comes in raising and i proceed to jam it the whole way, catching a boat on 6th and 2 people call me down until 7th where they both fold, wtf? they folded for $5 into a $100+ pot. good players.

Then seriously 2 hands later i got rolled 9s. I won a nice pot with this too.

I dont remember much else from that night. I think we crashed around 130...well most of us. some of the guys went to bed at like midnight every night...which is effin lame if you ask me.

the next day i was set out on getting plastered. so i started off with a let it ride session, got a screwdriver and a couple tequila sunrises. then a few of us played the 1-5 hold em game at oshea's right next to the sidewalk. It was pretty cool i must say. and since it was a small casino, the waitress came around with drinks very often and i probably had about 15 mixed drinks and a few beers while playing over 7 hours. i proceeded to be dehydrated the whole night. went to bed at 5.

the next few days were pretty similar and we played a lot of 3/6 at bally's and i played a little 1/2 there as well. i feel like i play way too tight live but i also seem to never get cards really. there were a bunch of hands where i couldn't suck out which blows, but what can you do. we mainly drank the whole time we played which was the reason for going to vegas...gamble and drink.

my buddy bob came in which was cool...he was doin some heavy gambling (relative to my friends)...this included betting $100 on a wnba game. he played some 10/20 as well. i also played a 5/10 omaha 8/b kill game one night which was pretty fun. i'd play it again. i ended up even after a few crying calls and a cold deck toward the end of the session. i had a couple nice scoops however.

the last night we went to pure and personally i think it was overrated. i mean, it was a great atmosphere and all...but you really see what people truly care about in this world - themselves and how they look. sad to say, but regardless i had fun there. one day i'd like to own a place like that, but try not to be so stuck up about it. the security there were being huge d-bags a lot...but they pretty much have to so i can't say much. there was also an incident regarding me borrowing a pair of a friend's shoes, but i wont go into those details.

the last day we just played some more poker before our flight.

all in all i lost $900 on the trip. but one night i was so tired of losing at everything that i played on stars for like 30 min and won $250. that made me feel better. seriously, the only games i came out ahead on were casino war and let it ride. that's sad.



anyway, in my last post i talked about having more structure in my life and how that'll help me actually accomplish more despite having a 40 hour per week job. i feel like my days are fuller right now and i actually can't wait to get home from work just to play poker. not only that, but this structure helps me stick to this diet im doing. i just have to work a workout schedule into my routine and im set. we'll see how that goes, im waking up early tomorrow to work out before work.

and poker has been alright this week. up about 3-4 buyins. im really just saving up fpps for that 40" tv...but if i get them fast enough i'm goin with the 50" tv. im gonna see where im at at the end of summer. if i get to 140k fpps by then, i'll hold out until i get the 170k for the 50". im at 26.5k right now. that'll be such a sweet accomplishment....a free flatscreen for playing poker. we have such a good life sometimes, do you realize this? lately i've been trying to see the good in everything and find it sad when i see angry/upset/depressed people on the streets stuck in their everyday life. life's too short to spend it upset.

I start an internship tomorrow and it'll be a regular 9-5 5 days a week. I haven't had a structured, hourly-wage job since the summer before senior year of high school...so about 6 years ago. Once I quit that job I caddied in the summers and did nothing in the school year. Then poker came around and was my moneymaker for the past couple years. The only reason I'm doing this job is because I have to for my degree.

I'm indifferent about starting. It'll be nice to receive a paycheck every week, but I'm definitely gonna miss the freedom poker allows. I won't be able to be around cardrunners as much but after work i'll be playing 2-3 hours of poker at least per night. I'll also be doing some CR work in the time after work. It'll kinda be a lot but I enjoy doing the work here/playing poker. I can view it as a hobby.

If this legislation goes through making poker mainstream again and brings more people into the game which in turn makes it more profitable, I may consider taking time off of after grad school to see how far I can go with poker. That's a decision down the road, but definitely something I may consider.

The other good thing about this internship is that I'll have structure in my life. I really don't like waking up at 10 everyday and staying up til 2-3. I like the mornings and feel like I waste a lot of the day when I don't have much to do outside of poker or CR work. Now I can have some structure that will allow me to concentrate on a steady diet/workout plan as well as having serious poker playing hours everyday - cuz those will be the only hours I can play.

I may get in more hours playing poker somehow...because before I would do things during the week like see the gf and not play poker at all. Other days I play for a bit then go do something else. But now I have that timeframe where I'll really want to play. Maybe I can concentrate more on my game and profit more...that'd be nice.

I still have to have a vegas update. There's not much to say as we mainly gambled, but I'll have something up this week. I also have some CR work to catch up on still since I was on vacation.

I really think that I now have a very positive mindset and demeanor towards poker. But it's still tough to stay on the level when poker is just beating you down like crazy.

I haven't posted bad beats in a while, so I think I deserve the right to post some here. These are all hands I've played since that 40k pot...and yes, I play 2/4-5/10 online even tho I'm playing 10/25+ live...just the way it is because of how tough the online games are.

I've definitely made some mistakes, but it's just like everytime I put a lot of money in I expect to lose. I think all poker players who play a fair amount go through stretches like this a couple times a year, but it never makes things any easier.

standard overpair vs underpair

more fun overpair vs underpair goodness

hmm flop top 2, i wonder how i'll lose this one

overpair vs top pair...yum yum!

fun little calldown gone awry

sick read...oh whoops...busto!!

didnt think he had the king...guess i got owned

i misplayed this one and deserved to go bust...still pretty sick the setup action

i guess i just got outplayed

SOMEHOW somehow i am still break even since thursday night. I might even be up for the month even after the 40k pot tho its doubtful. I hate running bad...it always puts me in a sour, deflated mood.

Ezra

In Brian Townsend's blog today, you'll read about how he won 1.8 million dollars over the last 3 days. I'm not in that league, but I don't think I'm playing for small stakes either.

Poker has been going pretty well for me lately. I've taken some shots and taken pieces of people in big games, and everyone has run nicely and I've made a tidy profit. The only two big losses I've had recently were a small piece in that 100k HU match, and when I took a piece of a friend at 200/400nl and he ran Kings into Aces.

So last night, I was playing the 10/25nl here in NYC. Early on I got AK allin pre vs AK and JJ. Obv the flop came Jxx. I managed to spew off a few more chips and was stuck like 10k pretty quickly. I was about to quit with my last 3k on the table, but managed to turn it into 6k and then doubled up when I flopped 56cc on 478r vs aces.

I continued to grind away at some pots and was up about 6k when the following hand hapenned. I was sitting on about $17,500 and both villains have more than me.

2 limpers to me on the button and I make it $250 with 5s6s. Big blind calls and both limpers call. Flop is a gorgeous Ts 6c 5c, so I flop bottom two pair. Checks to me and I bet $700 (I tried to bet $800 but miscounted). The big blind (a very loose player) quickly calls, and the MP limper who initially I thought was solid (but tonight is on mega tilt) quickly checkraises to 3k. I really don't think he has a huge hand. I'm putting him on either a big ten, a flush draw, or a slowplayed overpair.

I decide to re-raise 11k on top to make it look like I have a flush draw in case he has an overpair or wants to make a hero call with top pair. He pretty quickly announces all-in and I call off my last 5k or whatever.

Here's where I made a mistake. I asked him if he wanted to run it more than once and what he had. He told me that he had a bare queen high flush draw, so my equity was basically 67% in this hand. $20,000 is a lot of money to me and I really should've taken some sort of deal to reduce variance. Even if I win 2/3, I'd still book like a 12k profit on the hand. I don't know what went though my mind, but I've never run it before while ahead, so I guess I just didn't know what was fair.

The turn was an offsuit 2, and the river an offsuit queen. I breathed a sigh of relief that no club hit the board as I went to drag my pot. Then he tabled Qc 2c. I literally jumped out of my chair and almost puked.

I think I was very mature about the whole situation. I shook everyone's hand, said goodbye to a couple of friends and went to sleep at my girlfriend's house. But that pot is the largest of my life at about $40k. It really hurts to lose that kind of cash right before heading out to Vegas where I'd been hoping to play some fairly high stakes games. I may now need to find a backer.

Just so everyone knows, I'm no where near broke and even this loss doesn't hurt that much. But of my net worth, I have like 90% in the stock market and only about 10% in cash for poker. That's why a loss like this really hurts, because I'm already playing on a pretty short bankroll and even a few thousand bucks really helps my bottom line to play bigger.

GL at the tables.

Ezra