Tonight! The Shield Series Finale!!!

Best show on Television, bar none. Well, tied for first with The Wire (I'm only through the first two seasons of The Wire).

I'm really looking forward to how the end of The Shield will play out. Will Vic die in a rain of bullets? Does he escape? The creator of The Shield has said that he hated how The Sopranos ended, so I expect a great ending tonight. Last week's episode was awesome. Him sitting in the room at ICE and confessing to everything was well done. Bravo!

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Poker has been brutal the last week. I guess it was expected though, with how well I had been running the last couple months. Now I am catching up on all the coolers and bad beats. I can't flop a set for the life of me, and Aces just haven't been coming my way much. KK and QQ have been running into AA way too often.

I'm thinking of moving down to 100NL for a little while and try out a new style. That or try Full Ring for a while. Or maybe play some HORSE?

I played tournaments last night, and only cashed in one. Guess which one? Yep, the PokerStars $10 Rebuy. I had a top 10 stack near the money bubble in this thing. I went out around 150th place with KQs versus ATo. I called a push by a guy who had pushed the 6 of 8 hands he had been at our table. WTF? I've never seen that strategy before.

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I did something last week that I haven't done in quite a while: read a book. I picked up the 3rd Option by Vince Flynn and whipped through it in less than a week. I picked up the next book in the Mitch Rapp series today, and plan on reading it over the holiday weekend. if you've ever read anything by Tom Clancy, I highly recommend the Minnesota native Vince Flynn. Highly entertaining books.

Cheers!

Back into the cash games

Had a decent short session this morning. I think I am playing a lot better at the 6 max tables the last week or so. Here is a list of things that I've done that have really improved my game:

• I very rarely just limp in now from the SB. Especially if it is folded to me in the SB. I used to just complete the blind a lot with not so great cards, and I would get into trouble. I'm now either raising or folding (Mostly folding). The only time I will complete the SB is if there are other limpers, and I have a good drawing hand (i.e. suited connectors or 1-gappers.
• No more open limping, especially from Early Position. Sometimes, I got in the habit of open-limping, especially from UTG, with small pocket pairs and Ax suited hands. I am now dumping those Ax suited hands, and raising with the pairs more.
• Defending your BB in cash games is over rated. Either raise or fold. Calling is bad because you are out of position the rest of the hand. The only hands I'll flat call from the BB are low-mid pocket pairs when I think I have the odds to set mine.
  

Hopefully none of my opponents read this :)

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I had two big hands this morning. The first was pretty straight forward. I got Aces on the button, and there was a raise and a call in front of me. I went ahead and re-raised, and got the BB and the original raiser to call. Flop was Q76 with two clubs. I had the Ace of clubs. Checked to me, and I bet 3/4 pot. Original raiser min-raises and I push the rest of his stack in. He has QJ, and I take it down.

The 2nd was kind of a suckout for me, but the dude never raised me! I have KQ on the button and raise it up after one limper. BB and limper call. Flop comes Queen high with 2 spades. Checked to me, and I bet and the BB calls. Turn is the King of spades, completing the flush draw and giving me top two pair. He checks, and I make a half pot bet. He just calls. River is a beautiful King giving me the nuts. He check/calls the rest of his stack and shows AJ of spades. Nice hand there. Thanks for not raising.

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I got around to watching the season premiere of The Shield last night. Best show on television right there. I just wish I could watch it in HD. I haven't gotten around to watching Lost or 24 yet. Maybe tonight.

Cheers!

I'm still alive

Sorry to the few that come here and read for not posting much lately. I haven't played all that much the last few weeks. Plus, I'm on a downswing. I was up a good $500 for a while there in March, but ended the month and pretty much even. Blah.

I've been so card dead these last few weeks its unbelievable. I am hardly flopping any sets, and when I do, most of them lose. I've had two set over set losses, and it seems in the others, I'm getting out drawn left and right. The worst was a blind on blind battle with me in the BB and pocket Queens. He had Aces in the SB and we both flopped sets. Yikes.

I had a decent session this morning booking a $100 win in about 250 hands. No Aces, no Kings, and no sets though.

Here were the two big hands from this morning:

I raise up ATo from the button and get the SB to call. Flop is T, 6, 6. He checks and I throw out a continuation bet and he quickly calls. I figure him for a big pocket pair and he is trying to trap me. The turn is another Ten, giving me Tens full of sixes, which is the nuts. He checks and instead of slowplaying, I bet again, and he quickly calls. The river is the last Ten giving me Quads. He checks and I push all-in, which was about 1.5-2x pot. He quickly calls again. Ha! Prima doesn't show mucked hands, so I have no idea what he had. Had to have been JJ-AA.

The last one was with a half stack when the table got down to 3-handed. I was in the BB with Queens, and the button raised it up 4x BB. I re-raise to $12 and he calls. Flop is J, J, 2. I continuation bet, and he goes all-in and I quickly call. He flips over Pocket 7's. Turn was a 7, hitting one of his two outs, but the river a Queen giving me a bigger boat. Ship it!

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I finally got around to watching last weeks episode of Lost. And let me tell you, "WTF"? That was the worst episode ever. I think that may have been the "jumping the shark" episode. What a complete waste of time.

I'm so glad The Shield and The Sopranos start this week!

Cheers!