CARDRUNNERS

 For a while I moved my blog over to Wordpress because I just couldn't handle the new CR blogs, although I'm terrible @ updating so really it probably didn't matter. Let me get people up to speed on what I've been doing since I stopped updating semi regularly. My buddy Bert moved in with me for a couple months while job hunting/gettting things figured out with grad school. He's basically crashing on the couch and working full time for AT&T, so it's been cool to have a buddy around for a while.

In the begining of November the WoW expansion came out, which Bert and I played really hardcore until around the end of December after christmas sucked my life bankroll dry, it was time to stop neglecting poker and make some money. During the WoW time I cashed out a lot of my roll so I didn't have much money online to play very high at first, but I picked my good spots and got things rolling right off the bat come Janurary 1st. 

Poker was a lot different this month for me than it has been other months for a couple reasons. First off I didn't really grind much at all, most of the time I was 1-3 tableing the best possible games I could find and just really concentrating on every thing happening that I possibly could. I was hardcore going through my DB and TR finding out how certain players played certain hands and just seeing what everyone was all about. I took tons of notes, was REALLY picky about where I sat and had games running and sweating them on my second monitor 24/7. If I saw a game that I wanted to sit in and wasn't doing anything else, then I sat and most of the time it was really profitable. I think I only had 6 tables (my norm grind) open and playing in one time this month and thats just so much more stressful. Although I do wish I would have played more hands, I think I was in more +EV spots than I have been before. That being said I played about 3/4 my hands at 100NL and 200NL and 1/4 at 400NL.





I'm not even exactly 100% sure how I managed to get my non-showdown winnings so close to 0 this month because usually it falls a good amount below 0, but I did change some things and I guess they're obv helping me there. So being a good month and all I went out and bought myself a new 30inch Gateway monitor among some other things like clothes and whatnot. Here's a crappy iPhone pic of mysetup, but the pic does no justice to the monstrousity of the 30inch because it's sitting next to a 24 inch which is still a pretty big monitor 


So life is good, for now atleast. I'm going to continue to table select like a pro and hopefully things stay this way for a while because I could use it. Like I've said before I'll try to update more often but I'm bad at it, cu around.

Back into the MMO scene..

I’m not even completely sure if this is where I want to be, or to be heading in the next couple months, which most likely lead to more sets of couple months.  Having such a strong penchant for competition and the needs to complete a task where other can see the end result is what keeps me “hooked”. There just seems to me some type of high that I get from MMOs that I just don’t get from single player games. Having completed every quest in Lost Odyssey is a lot different feeling than having some similar achievement in a game that’s played with a massive amount of others. Although the reward from having a high gamer score on XBL is nothing more than “feeling hardcore” and there are no direct benefits from it. I sometime find myself completing tasks in xbox games solely for the achievement points and not even really wanting to be playing that game. I get these phases every now and then for a couple weeks at a time where I just want to “beat” stuff, it’s odd and probably some psychological problem that I developed while growing up, maybe I should look into it. To get back to my point, something really pulls back to playing WoW again and I’m not sure if I even want that, I think I just want those feelings back. Another thing that sort of makes me feel indifferent about WoW is just the monogamy of playing one class and how established WoW as a game across all servers has become. In some ways its comparable to a long term relationship, there’s isn’t much that’s new and exciting save patch days, so I’ve been pretty attracted and curious to Warhammer as of late. A whole new world and feeling of complete change is really my selling point, whether or not the game is any good is, for now less of an issue, I guess I’m just looking for some cheap new fun. I’ve always been very intrigued by the idea of getting up and leaving everything being to start somewhere new, and if I had the funds to support it I honestly think I’d do it. 

My Poker Hiatus

I haven’t really put in any hands at the tables for around 3 weeks now, ever since a couple days before Nicolle’s birthday at the end of August I just haven’t had the desire to play. August was a really great month for me, I think by around the 15th I had played like 35k+ hands where I ran at around 7 ptbb/100, having that and rake combined with 2kish in satelitte wins really encouraged me to just relax while the summer drew out it’s last coupe weeks. Full Tilt has also gotten their checks coming in a timely manner again, with a couple cashout’s to hold me over for a few week and still have a strong bankroll I couldn’t think of a better time to relax. In a previous blog post toward the I had mentioned an ongoing golf prop bet throughout the summer I had with my buddy Steve, I mentioned how fun it was going to be, how we’d play golf so much because of this bet. I even purchased a season membership to the course in anticipation of many hours on the course. Well as the end of August neared I thought about those things and realized I haven’t done anything fun this summer, I’ve just grinded out all day long everyday and now summer is over. My self declared, deserved break, has been much needed. Although I’m making my living playing a game, it is an extremely stressful job and some time away from that has been very nice. My inclination to get back into WoW has probably been heightened with the absence of poker and I’ve gotten a lot of gaming (video) in, this is what I’ve been able to polish off; 

• God of War (PS2)
• God of War 2 (PS2)
• God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
• Lost Odyssey (360)
• Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)
• Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warefare (360)

All very fun games, so much that the God of War series peaked my interest into Greek mythology so much I picked up a book and have been listening to some Greek mythology pod casts. Call me a nerd, but the stories of those times are just too interesting to image. I’ll be returning to the daily grind very soon, my birthday is this weekend and I’ll be spending a lot of time with friends, going out and relaxing. I’m also ordering a new computer this weekend, once that’s setup and working properly I’ll be very excited and motivated to start winning some monster pots again. Probably sometime after the weekend I’ll post an August poker trip report and a birthday trip report, see you then.

Add me on XBL, gamertag: Twentytwo2277

SHIP IT

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: Twentytoo_22 ($232.70)
Seat 2: Chemlab187 ($200) -
Seat 4: pez gordo ($206.50) -
Seat 5: mattwatson ($580.20) -
Seat 6: DANNYV ($90.95) Sitting Out


PRE-FLOP:

pez gordo posts small blind $0.50
mattwatson posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: Twentytoo_22


RAISE Twentytoo_22 ($3.50)
FOLD Chemlab187
FOLD pez gordo
CALL mattwatson ($2.50)


FLOP:

Pot: $7.5


CHECK mattwatson
BET Twentytoo_22 ($5)
CALL mattwatson ($5)


TURN:

Pot: $17.5


BET mattwatson ($17.50)
RAISE Twentytoo_22 ($50)
CALL mattwatson ($32.50)


RIVER:

Pot: $117.5


BET mattwatson ($117.50)
RAISE Twentytoo_22 ($174.20)
CALL mattwatson ($56.70)


SHOWDOWN:
Twentytoo_22:

MUCK mattwatson

Twentytoo_22 collected $463.9 from main pot with three of a kind, Aces

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $465 Rake: $2

Final Board:


Seat 1: Twentytoo_22 showed [Ac Ad] and won 463.90 with three of a kind, Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($231.2)
Seat 2: Chemlab187 button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: pez gordo small blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)
Seat 5: mattwatson big blind mucked [3c 7c] - Ace Jack high - Net Gain/Loss: ($-232.7)
Seat 6: DANNYV is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Dunno why it's not showing his hand but he had 3♣7♣ rofl @ the river call and thanks for the donation

Since I started taking poker seriously and cashing out a lot more since the beginning of this year. I have NEVER ONCE had a smooth cashout gone through with Full Tilt, and I'm pretty sure I've blogged about it before. This is getting to be a complete joke and Full Tilt has been 100% unreliable in every single cashout situation I've had with them. I think this is either the 8th or 9th time I've cashed out over 1k and the funds have not gotten to me in the estimated time frame ever. I made this same exact cashout in the middle of June, only for 3.5 weeks to pass and then on July 13th they redeposited the 1700 into my account and I recashed out the 15th as it says below, then yesterday August 6th I got this email:

Dear Twentytoo_22,

Unfortunately, you were among a group of players affected by a problem with recent check withdrawals:

DATE: 15 July 2008
TRANSFER NUMBER: 021E07D6
AMOUNT: $1700.00

Your withdrawal amount will be returned to your Full Tilt Poker account immediately. We acknowledge that these continued issues with check withdrawals are unacceptable and sincerely apologize for this event and any inconvenience it has caused.

In order to deliver your funds to you in the quickest and most reliable manner, we ask that you re-submit your withdrawal request using one of the following withdrawal methods:

1. Cash Pickup: Please allow 1-3 business days processing time for the funds to be available for pickup. For more on this very convenient service visit: http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/withdrawal-cash-pickup

2. Secure check via courier mail: In order to expedite the delivery of your funds, we will be couriering any check request made over the next 3 weeks. Please allow 1-3 business days for processing and a further 3-5 business days for courier delivery.

Please be advised that these are estimations only and your funds may arrive shortly before or after the designated time frame. We want to assure you that despite the processing problems you’ve experienced with your recent check requests, any check request you make in the future will be handled by a reliable processor.

As a token of our appreciation for your patience in this matter, we will be crediting your Full Tilt Poker account with $100 within the next 24 hours.

Should you have any further questions please feel free to reply to this email. Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

Full Tilt Poker Support

On the other hand I once made a trade with someone on Poker Stars (where I've never played for real money) and cashed out the money there, 4 days later I had a check from stars waiting in my mailbox, no problems whatsoever. I have a buddy who plays full time on Absolute and everytime he's cashed out he get the check in the mail within 5-7 days, no doubt about it. Now why does Full Tilt have so many problems? It's sick and if it happens again I'm moving all of my money to a different site and won't play another hand on FTP until they get their shit straight, unaccetable.

Thing have turned around for the good finally and I've been running a lot better this month, think I'm up 20 BI or so this month and I've won a bunch of FTOPs seats, to be exact I've won 4 $216 seats, 2 $322 seats and 1 $535 seat all in the last week and a half so I'm really happy to get some extra cash+some cheap FTOPs seats and hopefully take a shot at going deep in an event. I really blew it yesterday in FTOPs event #1, but I think it's because I was overly excited to play in it and tried too hard to get things going right off the bat in the tournament when we all know thats no good, but oh well I have a couple more coming up this weekend to make up for.

I want my life to start being a lot more healthy, not in just terms of what I eat, but also the way I live and interact with people. I'm basically home most of the day by myself while Nicolle is at work and things can get a little sloppy. Neglecting straighting up a couple days in a row because I'm really only at the computer most of the time and don't see/use much of the rest of the apartment really actually takes a toll on my poker game I think. I definatly feel a lot better playing after waking up and showering as opposed to waking up and playing a couple hours before showering, and I think the same goes for the state of the apartment, it's clean, neat and bright I feel a lot better than if it's somewhat messy and dark. Nicolle really has no time to clean during the week because they just built a new stadium size building and recently moved into it (and knocked down the old one). Her work load is literally triple (probably more) and she's just too exhausted to clean at 9pm when she gets home and has to take up at 7am the next morning to just start all over again. Not that its HER job only to clean or anything but I just meant that if I don't shes obv the only other person thats going to, plus I know she really appericates when I do stuff like that. I've been buying tuna and salmon filets a lot and cooking them for lunch or dinner and I want to start eating them almost everyday, I just have to get to the store more. They're super tasty and only take like 10 minutes to make, I youtubes some awesome how to cook salmon vids and now I'm pro. Too bad I can't afford eating sushi 4 times a week otherwise I'd def do it, anyone wanna stake my sushi 4 times a week diet, please?

Anyone have a bowflex? I'm sort of falling into the traps of their advertisments and want to get one even tho I can't even close to afford it, but I think if a huge awesome looking machine was sitting right next to me I'd use it a lot and get super ripped because I'd get addicted to it like everything. Ok I can't think of what else to say really and sorta still feel silly blogging about my thoughts/ideas/whatever so enough for now, cu.

-Fin

PS. go to hell full tilt

Well July was a massive bad beat/suckout month, my face and body are bruised from getting beat on so bad, I should probably go to the hospital because I'm sure there is a lot of internal bleeding. The Poker Mindset says "You'll run worse than you ever thought possible" well if I ever run worse than this, ugh I can't even think about that. I guess I'm supposed to be emotionally detached from results oriented things, especially suck outs and bad beats. I'm supposded to just be super slap happy that I got it in with the best hand and it didn't hold so oh well kekekeke better luck next time right? I don't think I'm evolved enough as a player yet to be completely unaffected by it when it comes at the rate of losing 80/20's over and over all month long. I put in a huge amount of hands this month, somewhere close to 70k. The trade off for being and feeling hardcore really wasn't worth the month I had and looking back I've talked a lot about how breaks made sessions so much better, well I didn't take many breaks at all this month. I just kept putting in hands after getting cooler after cooler and beat after beat. The thing is I'm not even too upset about my play because 90% of the time I was getting my money in with the best hand and after that I have no control of the cards to come. Here are a couple examples.

85% favorite - www.pokerhand.org/

70% favorite - www.pokerhand.org/

After this guy 4 bet shoves I know I'm ahead, why would better hands want to scare away weaker 3 betting hands? Wouldn't his monster want to keep in all worse hands for value? - www.pokerhand.org/

59 is the nuts here obv....um cool. Raising to iso the short stacks shove, Villian with 59 is a huge fish obv.

www.pokerhand.org/

Just a couple examples from the last few hands I've played. Not to mention running 2 nut boats into 2 Royals, flopping probably 6 non nut flushes only to run into flopped nut flushes, and a total of running my set into better sets 11, yes ELEVEN times this month. I've lost a large portion of my bankroll this month and have taken a large emotional hit as far as poker, I guess I can be thankfull for $825 in bonuses from Full Tilt and a total rake of $1,170 this month at 50NL. Not really sure what to due from here because all of that has been lost. If Poker Tracker wasn't so damn slow I'd post a ton more hands but sifting through 70,000 hands this month is super laggy and I'm way to lazy/annoyed at poker to have any more poker related paitence.

Reading through some other blogs and just thinking of poker and money in general has made me think a lot about how backwards either our country is, or the world in general. Menelo talked about not really feeling like playing poker right now because he just wasn't into it, he did point out that it wasn't due to losing $150,000 because "it's not like it's a big hit or anything" I think Menlo is 21 years old. Yesterday I watched David Benefield play four or so HU tables and watched him fold $400 BBs over and over. In one of Brian Townsends recent videos he was playing a hand against another FTP pro where he says something along the lines of "So and so is really tanking here, he must have something, or maybe he's just getting room service and is timing out". The pot was a couple thousand dollars, just to be able to think that somebody has so much money they can fold thousands of dollars because a burger came up to thier hotel door? I'm not saying thats what happened, but just for Brian to even be able to think that line of that is just so sick and it really show how things go so unapperciated, espically money in this country. Menelos 150k that he lost sitting at his computer gambling could go so far in Africa, or somewhere less fortunate. Even a couple big blinds could make a lot of peoples lives a lot more happy and less stressful, even a lot of Americans lives, including me and probably you. Sorry for the wall-o-text, but I guess during a downswing it's a lot easier to look at these things from the lesser side. Also taylor and raptor, stop bitching so much about little things in your blog, you're both living lives of sultans, try worrying about making ends meet for a couple months, see how stressful that is, you guys have it made.

It's probably a good thing if I take a couple days off poker, but the thing is I just hate sitting around doing other things when I feel like I could be playing and atleast have the chance to be making money. If I'm playing 360 or PS3 eventually I start wondering how the games are and thinking to myself that I'm missing out. Also being stuck in the house all day while Nicolle has the car really keeps my choices of what to do. I sorta live deep among a lot of side streets and about the most fun walkable place is a grocery store, and well thats just not that fun. Eh anyway thats enough crying for now.

-Fin

Oh wait play this game its super addicting/fun and frustrating as hell

www.gsn.com/minigames/minigame.php

Everytime I've had gotten a Full Tilt bonus, whether I've had to work it off or it was a direct depost bonus I've ran terrible the whole time.This months bonus is no different, I've gotten $825 in bonus, $525 from Iron Man mid-year and $300 from Full Tilt lying to me saying they sent out a cashout check and then the day later saying they never did send it so they gave me $100 and then $200 more I had to work off. I've played a lot of hands this month and I'm definatly not in the green and if I am its barely break even and I've lost most all of the bonuses I've recieved and if it wasn't for getting them in the first place I'd be pretty broke. I'll recap my last week a little.

• Ran my set into a bigger set 9, yes NINE times.Bunch of these deep and @100NL
• Limped pot K2s in BB, flopped flush, guy limps UTG with AJs obv. lose 200BB @ 100NL
• Flush ran into Royal.
• Prolly due to some tilt in 10 hands I got AK AIPF vs the same guy, he showed up with AA all 3 times, was actually kinda funny at this point.

I guess looking at this short list, doesn't seem as devistating has it really has been, and its obv just variance and "that's poker" but it stings in the short term and it's 4:30am I'm bored and randomly woke up so I decided a new entry to cry would be suitable.

In other news I bought a new Sony Bravia 52inch LCD which should be getting delviered sometime this week so I'm pretty pumped about that. Nicolle was in the dells with some of her friends this week and saw this little guy in some shop and I guess she couldn't resist, but he's really pimp and about the size of a half dollar. Any name suggestions? I couldn't think of one.

I've slowed down a lot on the tournies due to the fact I've been running bad and cashing for a decent amount vs the $25 buy ins is pretty hard and its easy to go on a streak of no cashes. So until my cash stats even out a little more I'm going to try to stay away from tournaments and only play in them as more of a treat to myself. I read somewhere that if you buy PearlJammed's book off of the Poker X Factor website you get 25 free vids it's the same price on thier site so I'm going to pick that up over there for sure, can't beat a good deal.

I guess that it from now, but I'm on a mad mission to win twenty 50NL BIs this week so I can get out of this slump and make some dough just to go straight to bills, and start all over again. God someone stake me so I can pay bills and have the roll to move up.

-fin

Was by far my best month of poker so far this year and I'm really happy with the results, too bad almost all of my profits had to go toward bills and such. I'll just post the fun stuff and talk some after.

+

+

A 5th place cash in the 10k guaranteed on Full Tilt for $750ish (I'm no MasterTrey but it helped a lot!)

     I'm really happy with meeting my goal of being up 50 buy ins at 50NL, I obviosuly ran really well and only had a couple losing sessions which obv helps more than anything, but I'm also real happy with the way I played in and the situation I put myself in, and the situation I didn't let myself get into. Only thing that sorta sucks is having so many bills and using poker as my main source of income makes moving up in stakes really hard. Hopefully I can get another good score or two this month in some donkaments and that will give me some room to breathe.

     I'm still taking my shot at some tournaments and have been watching a lot more CR MTT vids, just as the cash vids they're helping out a ton. I think my biggest problem so far is getting into spots where I should just fold or not be in the hand once I'm ITM. I seem to lose paitence or get overly excited once there are only a couple tables left and tend to get it all in when its just not needed. I have to start thinking ahead more about getting to the final table when I'm in the top 50 or so and just wait for better spots. It's really frustrating me lasting through 1k people and then just busting out in 80th when I've played solid for the previous 4 hours, theres just no reason to get crazy when I'm in good shape. Atleast I've been winning a lot of $26 tokens instead of paying for all my entries, cashing in 80th for $50 really sucks after outlasting 1000 people and playing for a couple hours when I could probably make top 20 once I'm that deep.

July Goals:

1. Make atleast one Final Table in an MTT.

2. Win 40+ 50NL BIs

3. 60,000 Hands

4. Avoid Coin Flips for stacks as much as possible.

   Guess that's it for now

        -Fin