Fantasy Football Blahs

Usually I'm really into Fantasy Football. I think that has a lot to do with me always having a good team and at the top of the leader board at the end of the year. This year, it's different. And I can blame Tom Brady for that.

I'm in two leagues this year. In the 8 person league (a league that also gives points per reception), I had the 8th pick in the draft. I went with Tom Brady. We all know how that one is working out. And because of that injury, it also screwed up my other league. This one is a 10 person league, and I had the 9th overall pick, and I grabbed Randy Moss. Moss is turning into the bust of the year.

When both of your first round players on your fantasy team are busts, it's hard to win the league.

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I played a decent amount of poker this weekend, getting in around 1500 hands. I pulled in a nice $600 profit. Not too many interesting hands to report.

I did change my Full Tilt layout though. I downloaded some custom cards and backgrounds, and I it makes it a lot easier to follow the action, especially when you multi-table. And it's pretty! Check it out.


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I don't say much about politics here, but damn, McCain picking Palin as his running mate sure is turning into a train wreck. I think I may actually watch the VP debate on Thursday just to see what she says. Just think how much different the presidential race would be right now if McCain had chosen Minnesota's own Tim Pawlenty.

And just for the record, I'm still undecided. But I can say, that if Jesse Ventura was running, I'd vote for him.

Cheers!

Mook Day!

Yesterday was Wednesday, so that means Mook Day! I had a fairly decent, break even night playing MTTs. I played in 8, and I cashed in 3 of them. I made the final table in the Mookie, but went out in 9th when my 99 couldn't win the flip over AK.

I also cashed in the PokerStars $10 rebuy (duh!) and finished around 100th place. I got crippled when someone thought that J6s was a good hand to 3-bet push with ZERO fold equity. I had A6s, and of course a Jack comes on the flop. I seriously don't understand moves like that. When I get odds to call with any two cards, I'M GOING TO CALL WITH ANY TWO CARDS! J6s is going to behind 100% of my range there.

I also finished deep in the Full Tilt 50/50. I ended up bowing out in 19th place. I was crippled a few hands right before I busted when I finally saw a big pocket pair (TT) and was up against JJ.

Cash games were nice, but I basically won back what I lost on Tuesday night, lol.

One thing I noticed about my play between last night and Tuesday night, was that I didn't tilt at all Wednesday. Tuesday I did, and I think I figured out why. I was listening to music while playing last night. It had a really good effect on my play. I was in a zone, humming along to the tunes and everything was good. I will definitely have to fire up the itunes when playing from now on.

Since I've been a little lazy with the poker playing lately, I checked to see the status of my iron man promotion, and found out that I cannot qualify for any of the iron mans this month. Oops. I had been iron man for a good 18 months in a row until now. Oh well, not that big of a deal really. I'll maybe lose out on about $50 worth of FPP points.

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Speaking of music, I've been listening to a new band called Paramore a lot lately. For some reason, I've been really digging the rock bands with chick lead singers. They have a lot of really good, catchy tunes on their "Riot!" album.





If you like modern rock like Linkin Park, Seether, etc... you should check them out.

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Tonight is the premiere of Grey's Anatomy, and my wife is huge fan of the show so she invited a whole bunch of her girlfriends over to watch.

*sigh* I'm sure I'll be getting requests from the girls to bring out the Wii Fit and demonstrate Wii Fit Hula Hooping for them afterwards. I'll let you know how much I make in tips.

Cheers!

+EV Hours

I was listening to a Cash Plays podcast the other day and Bart was talking about goals. He says that he doesn't set monetary goals, but sets goals of playing a certain amount of "+EV Hours". He says that if you set a monetary goal, it could possibly force you to play when the conditions are not ideal. If you are tired or tilting, or if the games are tough, it just doesn't make sense to play. More than likely, you'll end up losing money then.

I was reminded of that podcast this weekend when Sunday night came along. I hadn't played poker all weekend, and thought that I should sit down and play a little poker. But I was tired, and really didn't feel like playing. So why play? I shouldn't play just to "get in the hands". I should play when I'm feeling good and at the top of my game. I think that is why I like playing in the morning before going to work. I'll get up a little early, take a shower, make some coffee, and play a little poker before going to work. I'm rested and relaxed, with whole day ahead of me.

Usually Monday mornings are not the best conditions on the poker tables. It's early in the week, and most of the casual poker players don't play on Mondays. But this Monday morning, I was fortunate enough to find a table with a Mega-donk. A Mega-Donk from Italy even. That is one reason I like to play in the mornings, especially Friday and Saturday mornings. The Euro Fish come out in full force. Mornings for me, is late afternoon for them. No offense to you folks out there across the pond, but my ideal table would have players from Ireland, Norway, Italy, Germany, and any of the other European countries. They like to gamble, that is for sure.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any of this donks money because I had to leave for work. But, in one hand, he limps PF. Some other guy with about $400 in his stack raises to $10 and the donk calls. Flop is Ace high and donk leads out for $250 in the $20 pot. Other guy pushes, and it is only $100 more to call, but he folds. huh?

This morning was a little bit different in that I didn't find too many good Hold 'em tables. So I fired up a few 0.50/1.00 Pot Limit Omaha tables. I might have to start playing PLO a little more, because in about 20 minutes, I won two buy-ins.

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The family and I headed up to the Minnesota Renaissance Fair on Sunday. I hadn't been there in a while, but it was a lot of fun. The kids got to do a lot activities there. We did Rock Climbing, The bungee jumping trampoline, Self propelled giant swings, Jacob's Ladder, face painting, and mask making. Tons-o-fun. And of course, the good food.

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Add me to the camp that is really liking the new Metallica album. This album brings us back to the good 'ole days of some rifftastic Metallica music. If you've ever purchased a Metallica Album before, you should definitely check it out.

Cheers!

Ummmm, What's Happening?

Thinking up titles to these blog posts is getting harder and harder every time.

Not too much happening in the world of the PokerFool. I've played a little bit lately, and have been doing pretty good. I played tournaments and cash games Wednesday night and did well in the cash games winning around $700 in 800 hands. Tournaments were another matter, and I only cashed in one out of the seven I played. I finished around 60th place in the Full Tilt 50/50. The beats in those tournaments were crazy. It didn't matter if I was ahead 80/20 or if it was close to a flip, I lost. I had people calling raises with Q3s and hitting runner runner flush. I'd flop two pair or better, and my opponent would go runner runner straight. It was unbelievable. But I can't complain much, as I think I am playing some good poker.

Here is a nice cash game hand from Wednesday night.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8120292069: Table godorichamp (6) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:20:58 ET - 2008/09/18
Seat 1: OMGitsPokerFool ($200)
Seat 2: Moose88a ($36.65)
Seat 4: canyoufeelit ($236.60)
Seat 5: crehate ($211.60)
Seat 6: Sleekest ($200)
Sleekest posts the small blind of $1
OMGitsPokerFool posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [5d] [5c]
Moose88a folds
canyoufeelit calls $2
crehate folds
Sleekest adds $1
Sleekest folds
OMGitsPokerFool checks
*** FLOP *** [9h] [3d] [2d]
OMGitsPokerFool checks
canyoufeelit checks
*** TURN *** [9h] [3d] [2d] [5h]
OMGitsPokerFool bets $4
canyoufeelit calls $4
*** RIVER *** [9h] [3d] [2d] [5h] [3s]
OMGitsPokerFool bets $194, and is all in
canyoufeelit has 15 seconds left to act
canyoufeelit has requested TIME
canyoufeelit calls $194
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OMGitsPokerFool shows [5d] [5c] a full house, Fives full of Threes
canyoufeelit mucks
OMGitsPokerFool wins the pot ($398) with a full house, Fives full of Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $401 | Rake $3
Board: [9h 3d 2d 5h 3s]
Seat 1: OMGitsPokerFool (big blind) showed [5d 5c] and won ($398) with a full house, Fives full of Threes
Seat 2: Moose88a didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: canyoufeelit mucked [2c] [2s] - a full house, Twos full of Threes
Seat 5: crehate (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Sleekest (small blind) folded before the Flop

This guy was a calling station donk, and I knew he'd call with for sure a 3, and even a 9. I didn't put him on 22, that is for sure. I figure, that if there is a 10% chance he'll call a $200 bet, I make $20. If he calls a pot size bet ($13) 25% of the time, I make only $4.25. Makes sense to try the 'ole overbet for value play.

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In other news, the wife and I are planning a trip out to New York City October 10th - 14th. I'm looking forward to it, since I have never been to NYC. My wife has a friend who is there for work, so we are going to stay with her in a hotel right near Madison Square Garden (And on the dime of a former employer of mine, woot!)

I also have a cousin who lives very near there. My cousin and her husband do some really interesting work, so I'm interested to see how they live out there. My cousin is a "Food Designer". Basically, she sets up food displays so that pictures can be taken of it to put in Women magazines Like Oprah and Good Housekeeping. And then she and her husband also have there own wallpaper business and supply wallpaper to a couple of the nice hotels in NYC. He also used to be the guy who designed all the window displays at FAO Schwartz. Cool!

Anyone out there in poker land live in Manhattan?

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Around this time three years ago, I started this here blog. So Happy 3rd Blogiversary to me. If you look down at the bottom of this page, you'll see that I have 15,367 Unique Daily visitors. LOL, that's only about 14 hits a day. I think some of you out there get 15,000 hits in one day! Of course, I have no idea how all that stuff works, and if it takes into account google reader visitors or not.

But anyways, thanks to my 14 readers out there. Hopefully I'm still writing three years from now.

Cheers!

When It Rains, It Pours

I think it is safe to say that I am running at the extreme opposite of bad right now in Tournaments.

My wife had plans with the girls on Saturday night, so I got the kids in bed around 8:30 and decided to enter into my favorite tournaments, the $50 MTTs on PokerStars and Full Tilt. I wasn't in that much of mood to play poker, so I decided to keep it light, and I only played in those two , plus two satellites (When I play MTTs, I usually play in the $26 and $10 rebuys too).
Well, I ended up doing great in both $50's, and I finished in 4th place at the Stars one, and 24th in the Full Tilt one!



Here's a recap:

I hung around the starting chip stack of 3000 for the first hour plus. Then on hand #84 with blinds at 75/150 I doubled up with Kings. I just called a PF raise, and then check raised the J98 with two diamonds flop and guy called with AQo. Suckout #1 at hand 122. AJ vs AK, Jack on the river. That gave me an above average chip stack.

A few hands later, I called a min-raise from the Big Blind with 6d 5d versus another big stack. Effective stacks were 50 big blinds, and I don't fold to min-raises PF when that deep and I'm in the Big Blind. Flop was Kd 3d Jh giving me a flush draw. He through out a pot size bet on the flop, but I called anyways. Turn was the 8d giving me a flush. This time I led out, betting just enough to leave me with about a 3/4 pot push on the river if he called. He did call, and the river was a blank. I pushed, but he folded after some time. He said he folded Aces. When do people min-raise PF with aces when you have greater than 50 BBs? I don't get it. That gave me the biggest stack at the table, and I was near the top of the leader board.

An orbit or so later, I got it all-in against the same guy PF with Aces versus Queens. My Aces held up, and I now had a huge stack. That pot was for 80 BBs at the 150/300 level. I raised from Early position, and he 3-bet huge pretty much committing himself. I pushed and he called with those Queens. He could have easily 3-bet half the amount and maybe saved himself some chips.

I then turned on aggressive big stack mode, and bullied everyone at the table. I stole and stole and stole. It was great. I knocked out a short stack with TT vs AK. I won another huge pot when I called a PF raise with KQ with three people seeing the flop. I flopped top pair with the 2nd Nut flush draw. I just called on the flop. I check-raised the turn all-in, and was actually behind when villain also had top pair, but hit his kicker on the turn. But I had a ton of outs, and I hit on the river. That gave me 66k chips with the next closest at my table with 34k.

I knocked out another short stack with AJ vs QQ. I was now up to 100k and in the top 5 or so (But 4 of the top 10 were at my table now). At hand #251 I got Aces again, and this time got it all-in PF versus Kings. I flopped a set, and I was now up to 150k in chips at the 1000/2000 level. Knocked out another short stack at hand #293 with QJs vs TT.

So we get down to three tables, and I am still near the top. But two hands happen back to back that knock me down to average. First one, I attempt to steal with A5o from the Cut-off. The aggressive BB pretty much min-raises, and I call. Flop was AJ9 with two clubs. He led out for 2/3 pot, and I ended up folding. I'm not sure if this was correct or not. I still had a good stack, so I didn't want to waste it all with Top pair/no kicker. Then the very next hand, I attempt to steal with K8. Player behind me quickly called. I mean, it was a "snap" call. Flop was 8 high, and I c-bet a good amount, and he snap called again. uggg. Turn was a 9. I'm not sure what I should have done here, but I checked. He bet a really really small amount (20,000 into a pot that had 92,000 in it). After his bet, he had 100k left in his stack (I had him covered, but only by 40,000 in chips). This smelled like a monster had (QQ+), so just folded. I was really contemplating calling, because I think I may have had enough implied odds to hit my 5 outer (another 8 or a King). But I wussed out and folded which left me with an average stack.

On hand #390, I made a move that I do occasionally against people who like to call too much with position. I raised PF with AK and the button, a pretty aggressive player, called. Flop came J92 rainbow and I checked with the intention of check-raising his bet. Sure enough , he bet, and I pushed and he quickly folded. I actually made this move a few times in this tournament, and it worked every time.

A few orbits later I knocked out a player with JJ vs 99, I flopped a set, and JJ was more than ok! Now I had 256k in chips at the 6000/1200 level. It folds to me in the SB and I raised 97o. The BB obviously called, and flop came 456 with two suits. I decided to employ the check-raise strategy again, and sure enough when I checked, BB bet and I pushed with my semi-bluff and he folded.

So we are down to seven people at this table (14 total), and I have 354k in chips. There was one really really good aggressive player who was stealing blinds left and right, and I decided to take a stand finally. I called her steal attempt with K9o, and when the flop came AT6 monotone ( I had the 9 of that suit), I decided to lead out for 2/3 pot. I felt that I could push her off a weak ace, but she raised and I folded. Uggg. weak.

I then had suckout #2 when I raised PF with Ah Kd from the CO and the button, who had me covered, pushed. I called and was up against Ks Kc. Flop came 5s 3s 2s. So now my As isn't an out, but I pick up three 4's for the wheel. Turn was a Ten, but the river was the beautiful 4h. JJok was railing me and he said that he woke the dog when he yelled for the 4 on the river and it came, lol. Thanks JJ!

I won a nice pot a little later when I called a PF raise from the aggressive annachung with KQ. Flop was K high and I got 2 streets of value versus her KJ. That gave me the chip lead for the tournament and few hand later, we were at the final table.


I relinquished the chip lead when I lost a hand to a short stack (A5o vs TT) and had to give up a few blind steals to pushes. The table was playing really aggressive. And people were seeing a lot of flops. Very rarely did blind steals work at this table. I had some trouble adjusting to that and played a lot more weak tight than I would have liked. I saw that big payday for 1st, and I was playing not to lose instead of to win. I should have put the pressure on the other bog stacks when I had the lead to do so. Of course, it didn't help that I went pretty much card dead at the final table. I picked up AA right near the beginning of the Final table, and KK a few orbits later(Which just won the blinds both times), but other than than, my best hands were ATo, A7 a few times, and 88. That's it. No other pocket pairs. I was dealt some shit hand with a two or three in it 26 of 71 hands at the final table. WTF?

Once we got down to five left, I was 3rd in chips with the stacks looking like this:
Seat 1: annachung (437578 in chips)
Seat 3: O0Brian0O (1226697 in chips)
Seat 4: S D Mikee B (157305 in chips)
Seat 5: LuparFiend (576682 in chips)
Seat 7: xXxRuGGeDxXx (1408738 in chips)

A few hands later, anna had knocked out Mikee in 5th, but I was now the short stack. I doubled up once with K5s vs QT. I stole a few more blinds, and at one point the stacks were looking like this:
Seat 1: annachung (767201 in chips)
Seat 3: O0Brian0O (822697 in chips)
Seat 5: LuparFiend (657364 in chips)
Seat 7: xXxRuGGeDxXx (1559738 in chips)

But with the blinds at 20k/40k, it didn't give much room to do anything. I finally went out in 4th place with this bustout hand. It folded to the SB, and he just completed. I look down and find A7 and push. He snap called with AJ, and I don't suckout. I still had an M of 7 when I busted, so I'm not sure that I had to push there with Ace rag. But, 4th place got me $5200! More than my win on Monday night! Wow!!

One hell of a run I'm on in tournaments lately. Finishing the Full Tilt 50/50 in 24th place made me $210, and then I won one of the satellites for another $100 that night. In my last 10 MTTs, I've cashed in 7 of them. Whoa!

And a big thanks to JJ for staying up till 4 AM and railing me Saturday night. I'm not sure what time he had to get up in the morning, but my kids woke me up at 7:30 on Sunday. Damn I'm tired.

Cheers!

Tournament Win!

I played a bunch of tournaments last night, and did really really well. I entered into a total of six MTTs, and I cashed in four of them. The highlight was me taking down the $24+2, 11.5k guaranteed 6 max Knock Out tournament last night on Full Tilt.

This is the first MTT that I have won that had more than 200 people in it. It feels damn good. I'll try and recap it.

During the first couple levels, nothing too exciting happened. I built the starting 2000 chip stack up to 3000 over the first half hour by winning a bunch of small pots. I obviously like these 6 max tournaments since 6 max is my regular game over at the cash tables. Staying aggressive, stealing the blinds, and winning the small pots is really the way to go here. Most of the people who play these type of tournaments don't adjust properly to the smaller tables, so you can steal a lot more.

The first real interesting hand happened at the 30/60 level. There was one really bad player who had accumulated a really nice chip stack (10,000 after 20 minutes) when I got moved to this table. Over the next 15 minutes, he showed down some really weird hands and was playing almost every hand. He was also folding a lot on the river, so he must be drawing a lot. Anyways, he min-raises PF from MP. I 3-bet from the SB with AQs and he calls. Flop is 882 with two spades. I c-bet and he calls. Turn is another 8. I bet out again and he calls. The pot is now 6500, and I only have 1200 left. I thought for sure he would fold most hands here, as I am representing a big pocket pair. I figured the only think he could call with is TT or JJ. I figured a bigger pocket pair would have 4-bet PF. So the river comes an offsuit 9. I decide to fire in my last 1200 into the big pot, and he folds!!! He tells us during the next hand that he had KJ. ummmmmmmmm.......

So that hand gave me a nice 7700 stack at the 30/60 level. By the time the first break rolled around I was up to 8500. A few hands later I raised pocket 9's from UTG (50/100 level). The BB with a stack of 4500 calls. Flop is a perfect 966. I bet, he raises and I call. Turn is a 7. He bets, and I call. River is the last 9, giving me quads. he checks, I put him in for his last chips and he calls with 65s. About a half an hour later, I flop another set with 77. The dude limp/calls my PF raise, and then immediately pushes on the KJ7 flop. My hand holds, and I am now in the top 10 of chips.

Next came my one big suckout of the night. We're in the money I believe, with blinds at 120/240 a25. Everyone at the table has between 12,000 and 20,000. It folds to me on the button, and I raise up Q7s. Flop comes Ah Qc 7c giving me bottom two pair. I bet flop and he calls. Turn is a 6h and I bet again. This time he pushes. uh oh. His range is wide enough to where I'm pretty sure a call is the correct play. Unfortunately, he flips over AQ. But the river is another 7 giving me a boat. I had him covered, so if I would have lost, I still would have had some chips.

For the next hour, I didn't get involved in any other big hands. I stole enough to always keep me around the 25k-30k chip level, which was still a really good stack. I ended up folding pocket Jacks during the 500/1000 level. I had the biggest stack at this table with 32k. UTG with 21k raises it up. I 3-bet with my jacks, but the SB with 25k pushed. I lost 8000 chips, but I think I made the right play. You don't see people show up with anything other than QQ+ or AK here. No worries though, as I stole my way back up to 20k within a few orbits. The other aggressive player at my table had started to 3-bet a little bit more, and I was able to win a nice size pot by 4-betting AK during the 600/1200 level. I knocked out a short stack with J9s vs A4 to get up to 50k in chips.

I stole and stole, and stole some more. Pretty soon I had 70k in chips with the next closest at my table with 26k. I got it all in against someone with 21k with KK vs 77, but they turned a 7. Boooo. A few hands later though, my KK held up and I knocked out a short stack to put me back at 60k. Down to 3 tables, and a few hands in I win with AQ versus KK. My AJ held up against A9 to knock out the 13th place person and get down to 2 tables.

A few hands in, this huge hand happens. I'm in the SB with 163k at the 1500/3000 level. It folds to the Button with 130k, and he raises. I 3-bet, and he takes a while and decides to push. I decide to make the call, and it is a race. JJ vs AK. My JJ holds up, and I now have the chip lead with 10 to go.

I lost a pretty big pot a few hands later when I had pushed hard a flush draw and one over. I figured that my 12 outs twice plus fold equity would be a good play, but it turned out villain had a pair plus the nut flush draw. So I only had 3 outs and I missed. No worries, as I still had an above average chip stack. The final table bubble finally burst with this hand (That I wasn't involved in). All-in PF AA versus AQ. Flop was QQ4. River was the case Ace. Yikes!

For the first 25 minutes of the final table, no one was knocked out. A lot of stealing and re-stealing going on. There were 3 bigger stacks with above 250k in chips, and 3 stacks with less than 110k. But within the next 9 minutes (32 hands), I had knocked out every single one of them.

I knocked out the first guy when I raised with A8s and the short stack called from the BB. Flop was 932 with two of my suit. Short Stack pushed and I called and he turns over A7 and my hand holds.

Two hands later I knock out one of the bigger stacks with KK vs 88 all-in Pre-flop. This gave me the chip lead with 650k and the others with 520k, 99k, and 92k. I knocked out one of the shorties an orbit later with JTs vs 22, and then knocked out the other shortie with KJs vs 97s.

When heads up started, it was me with 901k and villain with 460k. She won the first big pot of heads up play, but a few hands later I sealed the deal. Villain raises and I call with pocket 4's. Flop comes a perfect 9c 4c 3h. I check, she bets, I check-raise, and we get it all-in. She has 66, and doesn't hit her two outer.

Woot!

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As far as the other tournaments, I cashed in the Full Tilt 50/50, the Full Tilt $24+2 28k guaranteed, and the PokerStars $10 rebuy (again). I also came really close to cashing in the Full Tilt $10 Rebuy.

- In the 50/50, I lost a race with AK vs JJ
- In the 28k, I lost with AK vs KQ
- And in the $10 Rebuy, I finished in 71st place. I got my money in with AA vs 99 and KK. 9 on the flop, King on the river. Such a joke. I win that, and I am way above average.

Oh well, the poker gods made up for it in the Knock Out tournament.

I do have to say, I've been playing really well in Tournaments for the last couple months. Maybe I should start playing them more.

Cheers!