SAM's Poker and Life Adventure

Well remember how I said I was going to put in some poker hours this week. Well I haven’t. I have played a total of 5 SNG’s on Stars (one each of 1st, 2nd and 3rd.) I really just haven’t felt like playing a lot. I have learned from past mistakes that if you don’t feel it then don’t play.

I did play in the Neg-O last night. I know I said I wasn't going to play in it anymore but it was a small field of mostly FCP regulars so I played for the fun of it, it was like a big home game. Didn’t do well, never had the cards but I did have a good time. I railed Jeffery at the final table of a $20 tournament. He played great and finished second. Only saw him make one bad play but he battled back into the game and when he was heads up lost on a classic race at the end, his pair against two over cards. FCP never lets us win races. He was also in the top ten with two tables left in the Neg-O when I went to bed. Friday night I am playing with my regular tournament group in the poker barn. It’s going to be a smaller field this time which I like because it allows more time to play poker before the blind get to high. A report will follow.

It’s been a week since my last blog. I didn’t play much poker this week other than a few micro MTT’s and a couple of HORSE micro SNG’s on Stars (I won both.) I really didn’t “feel it” which is why I didn’t put many serious hours in. But it’s back to work this week. I plan on playing 40-60 SNG’s this week. I’ll try and remember to keep the blog updated on my progress.

Speaking of HORSE, man these guys playing the micros really don’t have a clue how to play the stud games especially razz and stud8. I may have to play or watch a few higher buy in games to see if they get any better. I have played a lot of limit Stud8 and Omaha Hi/Low in my home game so I am fairly comfortable with them. These guys won’t gamble at all if you have any good cards showing and you bet hard.

Tried my hand at bonus whoring with Blackjack I did real well to start. I cleared my first two bonuses with $307 of profits. Of course I didn’t bank my profits and run like I should have, I donked it all away, but if was fun while it lasted and it didn’t cost me anything and it kept me entertained when I didn’t feel like playing poker. I may try it again at a later date. There are a lot online casinos out there with good bonuses.

Well I haven’t posted in a while because it was a week of bad beats and bad play. I don’t remember what it feels like to win a race. I can sum up my week with one hand played yesterday.

Ten person SNG average stack 7 people left. I wake up UTG with AA, cool. So I bet three times the blind and the guy next to me with about half my stack calls, then the next guy folds, and the next guy also with about half my stack goes all-in. Nice!

Button calls, he has me covered by around $400. Blinds fold. I go all-in to try and isolate the short stack and the guy next to me calls and then the button calls. Oh shit I think four all-ins I’m gonna get sucked out for sure. Well the cards flip over and much to my delight the short stacks both have AJ off, and the button has the other two jacks! Most of their outs are gone! I just have to survive the 4 card flush possibilities. Or so I thought.

The flop is a 5 T 2 rainbow eliminating the suck out flush draws and I’m counting the money. I’m gonna triple up and be the chip leader! Turns comes a 4, still feeling great and guess what comes on the river, a fucking 3. That’s right folks it’s a three way split A-5 straight!

But to pit that all into perspective:

Tucker, Elizabeth Lark
September 11, 2006

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Lark Tucker 15, Cumberland, IN. Services: 11 a.m. Sept. 14 in Hendryx Mortuary, Cumberland Chapel, with calling there from 2 to 9 p.m. Sept. 13.

That’s the sister of one of my Eagle Scouts. She was never very healthy and had had various illnesses all her life. Last we had heard things were going very well for her, she had seemingly turned the corner. She died of an apparent heart attack Saturday night.

See that’s what a real bad beat is. A young life gone before it has a chance to start, parents having to burry their child.

Loosing a few dollars in a game means nothing. I may be unlucky at poker but I have two healthy sons. I am the luckiest guy in the world.

Nice long weekend, beautiful weather here in Indy. How did I spend this nice long weekend, you guessed it, playing online poker. Nothing new to report. Went through a couple of bad runs but battled through them. A little behind on the projected BR but considering the bad runs I have had I am overall happy. A few notes to myself.

#1 Stop chasing flushes without proper odds.
#2 No need to push early, let the game come to me.
#3 Pocket jacks are not as great as they look.

Oh and BTW I have been using the 2+2 SNG spreadsheet.
One huge observation: I have placed in the money exactly once in the dinner time frame set up on the SS, the only time frame where I am not a winner. Wonder why that is?

Enough with that crap now some poker talk.

Remember how I said I didn't know if I would play in the Neg-O or not in my last poker blog? Well I did and I lost and then I played in the Royal where my AA was beaten by JJ (J on the flop). That left me with a couple of dollars on FCP which I promptly threw away in the ring.

Then I donked all my Party money away until I was left with $4.75. That's was my total bank roll. All that was left. Not even enough for the smallest SNG. This was Sunday.

There I am, if I loose I am out of the game for a while. Maybe it's best I figured. Maybe I need to take a break any way.

Well I won that SNG. Since then I have played good solid SNG strategy. Super tight until the blinds go up, even folding medium pairs to a raise, I mean TIGHT. It sucks but that's what you have to do to have a chance at these low level tournaments.

Here we are five days later. My ITM is over 75% and my ROI over 80%. Bank roll up to $185 even after paying Neteller the $30 overdraft charge I had. I'm back to playing solid poker. I'm not going to play any MTT's over $2 until my bank roll can support it. That means no more Neg-O's until my BR is at least $1000. No Royals no frenzies. Nothing but solid BR management. I even have a BR spreadsheet that will tell my what level I can play at.

My pie-in-the sky goal is to be up to $50 SNG's by the middle of October. Wish me luck.

Over the last two days I have received numerous emails and phone calls wondering why I wasn't posting of FCP.

For those of you who don't know I am kind of internet famous at Fullcontactpoker.com's web forum. But I have decided to take a few days away from the FCP Hardcore Army. I am taking the holiday weekend off and will not be posting there until September 5th.

I did this basically because I really got upset there Wednesday and it put me into a really shitty mood. It's Friday and I am still in a bad mood.

You may not know this but I am a bit of a conservative (ok I'm a right wing whacko.) In the online poker world this makes me a minority. Most of the time I try to ignore some of the leftist crap some people spit out but sometimes I can't. This tends to lead me into trouble.

Here is how liberals see the world
If it's their opinion it's open and well thought out and flexible.
If it contrary to their opinion it is absolute, black and white inflexible and given down by or overloads.

Your typical left winger will resort one or more of three tactics during a debate

1) Insinuate, Infer, Imply or just downright say that conservatives are haters, hate mongers, hate (chose your group) or should be hated.

2) Say that all conservative thought or ideas come down from our masters (Rush Limbaugh, Fox news ......) and if conservatives would only listen to other sources we would stop being brainwashed.

3) Personal Insults.

If I encounter any of these tactic during a debate, the debate is over. There is no point in continuing the discussion. I just walk away from the debate because nothing good will come from it. Well Wednesday night I violated this rule and pointed out the tactics used to the users. One user backed off and the other didn't. In fact the she insinuated that is was I that had diverted the debate away from civil discourse. Then when I pointed out that she had pissed me off with her backhanded comments, she apologized for hurting my feelings.

FEELINGS WTF? My feelings weren't hurt, I'm not a fucking girl. I was just pissed off. Saying your sorry for hurting my feelings when you didn't mean too is bull shit. Don't be so fucking condescending. [/rant]

But I was already kind of upset with Renae to begin with. She was facing surgery and I offered my wife's* help on a couple of occasions and she just blew me off. Said that she didn't want to talk about it but she did talk about it with others. This did hurt my feelings. It caused me to wonder how she feels about me and when she kind of suggested that I leave the board.... well that did hurt.

So to save my sanity, and my love for Renae I decided it was time for a break. My bad mood is because I really value Renae as a person. What she says does mean a lot to me.

But have no fear, I'll be back.



*My wife is a senior work comp adjuster with many years of experience, she has helped thousands of people with this kind of surgery and recovery. She has seen it all and probably knows more about back and neck injuries that most Doctors and nurses.