Black Friday and Life

I know you haven't heard from me in a while and that's simply because I haven't been playing any poker. After Black Friday it's just been hard for me to get the motivation to pick up some chips and play. I tried for a little bit to play on some of the American accepting sites. I just didn't have much success. I didn't really loose any, I just wasn't having the enjoyment that I had before while I was playing. It just wasn't as fun.

I've been keeping my eye on the legislation and everything that has been going on with poker and online gambling, and I'm very hopeful. With Vegas legalizing it, we are well on our way to having poker back the way it used to be. I just recently moved to Portland, Or. so hopefully the laws get changed up here soon as well. Right now it is one of the few states that actually has laws strictly against online poker. The funny thing is they allow online state lotto. Go figure!

I'm sure I'll get back into it here soon. I love poker and had an amazing time playing. I just have my fingers crossed that the laws get changed here soon and I actually get to sit at a table and see you on the felt. Until then, I wish you good luck.

Playing Way Outside of my Bank Roll

My entire time playing poker so far has been at the very lowest stakes of the cash games, the SNG's and pretty much just free roll MTT's. Today, I decided to change that. I Have moved up to playing 10NL. Do I have enough money deposited to play this level? Of course not. But I can always reload :D

While I haven't played millions of hands at 2NL nor have I "grinded up" my bank roll from the lowest stakes, I was always a winning player. Before Black Friday hit, I had about $180ish between Pokerstars and FullTilt. I had built all that up from only a few bucks and had a pretty decent win rate when I was playing. I'm no where near a great poker player, but I definitely know I should be playing at a higher limit then 2 and 4 NL. So I jumped up to 10NL today.

I've had a pretty decent run so far and seem to be playing a better game. It may just be that I'm taking it more seriously now that there is more money involved, but I do seem to be playing a smarter game. I'm going to give this limit a go for a few thousand hands and see how well I do. I may not be able to hack it at this level, but I can always drop back down to 4NL and grind up a while there and polish my game off a while. Either way, it should benefit my game and will be more entertaining while I'm there.

Wish me luck!

Post Black Friday Poker

Well, well, well. It sure has been a long time since I've played any poker, and even longer since I've posted anything up on here. During the whole Black Friday ordeal, I lost my entire online bankroll. I only played on Poker Stars and Full Tilt, and those were two of the sites that were hit hard. I did get my money back from Poker Stars but still haven't seen anything with the money I had on Full Tilt. Hopefully someday I'll get that all back, but I won't be holding my breath. I haven't played a single hand of poker since all that went down, that is until the last couple days.

I finally talked my self into depositing $50 and not worrying about whether the DoJ will freeze it or not. Just deposit and play the game. So I did. I put $50 onto Carbon poker, one of the big sites on the Merge Network and have been playing a couple hundred hands a day for the last couple days. I've been spending a good bit of time watching training videos from both dragthebar.com and deucescracked.com. I figure my game wasn't that great before and I'm pretty damn rusty so I'll need a little help getting a winning game back.

I know I've said it before in a couple posts earlier, but I really plan on sticking to a pretty good playing, training, and posting schedule for poker. I haven't fleshed out any real goals or anything yet, just kinda getting my feet wet again, but I plan on making it a regular part of my life. I will try and start posting some more strategy related posts on here as well. I figure teaching is one of the best ways of learning, so I'll write up a couple "tutorial" type posts and probably post them on here and at cardschat.

Well that's about it for now. I just wanted to get something up on here, that way I can start making it a habit of getting on here and posting SOMETHING.

Been running great lately

I'm sure you'll be glad to hear I've been playing a good bit of poker again (I know I'm delusional anyone is even reading this, but it makes it easier to write assuming someone, somewhere is). I've been running pretty damn good lately. Aside from one stupid game I played a couple days ago, I have been at least cashing in all my games for over the past week. I know it's probably just a lucky streak where I'm running pretty hot, but I have been doing a good bit of reading the last little while so my game may just be getting better too. I've only one 1 in all those wins, so my heads up game still really sucks. This was how my game tonight ended, so it may not all be my bad HU game:


It's nice to be playing again, I do miss it when I don't play but it seems something always comes up. I've been trying to play at least one SNG a night and have been reading a few more books then before. I've also tried to stay active over at cardschat.com, but again it seems that is easier said than done. Here in about two weeks I'm going to have my spring break (I know that's a little late, but better late then never). My wife and I are going to be taking a cruise down to Mexico. I will definitely get a few hands in at the casino on the ship. It'd be nice to take down a good win on there and pay for a little bit of the vacation.

Well that's about all for me tonight. I'd like to say, "talk to you soon", but if you have learned anything from reading on here, you know I'm horribly inconsistent with keeping up with this blog. So I'll talk to you some time. Good luck at the tables.

A Few Topics to Look Up

Most of my poker training has come in the form of just reading whatever I can get my hands on. I don't usually have a set goal in mind of what I want to learn, I just try and take in as much as I can. Poker is just way to broad of a subject to learn it all at once. That's why I'm going to setup a little list of a few things I want to look into one at a time and "master" as much as I can. I'll write up a few posts about them along the way about what I learn, epiphanies I have, and just a little bit of review. I'm sure doing things this way will help me improve my overall game faster, as well as each smaller aspect of my game. My goal will be to take a couple weeks on each topic that I list. After that time I'll have a full summary of the topic and what I have learned about it. I'll also throw in a little bit about how I've implemented it into my game and how well it's going with the new trick up my sleeve.

Enough chit-chat, lets get to the list:

• Continuation Betting
• Bankroll Management.
• SNG Strategy
• Expected Value
• Position

I know that doesn't seem like a very big list, but like I said, I'm going to spend about a month on each topic. That should give me plenty of time to focus on each thing and absorb as much as I can about that topic. Hopefully I'll be able to bounce some of my thoughts off of one of my buddies. I'm sure being able to actually discuss these topics in person will help me grasp the details much better. If anyone has any ideas of somethings specific that must be added to my list shoot me an email; ericgarner118@gmail.com

Anyone else in a RUSH?

Sorry for the stupid title. I guess I was feeling clever. Anyway, on to what I came to talk about. I have been playing a good bit of Rush poker lately. If you haven't heard about it, it's a newer game from Full Tilt. It's pretty much the same as everything else, except as soon as you fold you are sent straight to a new table with new people. It cuts down on a lot of the waiting that some people don't like about poker. The good thing is that a lot of people play super tight on here. When people do this, they pretty much turn there cards face up. You win so many hands on here from stealing, c-betting, and your implied odds hands. You do have to be a little careful if you are a tilter. There WILL be some crazy coolers here and you'll just have to take 'em in stride.

While most of my time has been spent on Full tilt lately (trying to grind out my first deposit bonus on there) I have spent some time on stars. Usually when I play on stars it's just for some SNG's or an occasional cash game. I played a STT SNG earlier today and came in second. It was pretty long game, but it was pretty fun. I haven't played many SNG's lately and it's always nice to get back into them and win al little. Sometimes when you play a few it just seems so easy to win them every time, then you'll go on that down swing that pulls you right back down to reality. Anyway, the main reason I brought this SNG up was to show you a pretty shitty hand for a couple people. It was pretty much all-in pre-flop and when the cards were turned up I'm sure a couple people were pissed. Anyway here you go:



Well Kayleah just walked in with some dinner, so it's time to eat. Good luck at the tables.

My 2nd Home Game Went Great

On Saturday I decide to have a few people over for a home game. I have done one once before back when I lived in Va, and figured it was time for another one. I invited a few people from school over, including my buddy that got me back into poker, my wife, and her parents, and younger brother. There ended up being a total of 7 people in the SnG style game. The buy-in wasn't much, only $10, and the top two spots were paid; 70% for first and 30% for second. I had a nice array of munchies for everyone and a few people brought some things also. Apparently the pulled pork my wife made was AMAZING. One of my buddies today said he can't stop fantasizing about them.

The Game itself went pretty good. Around like the 4th or 5th hand, I picked up AK of spades on the button and of course raised to about 4*Bb. I got one caller, my brother-in-law, the flop came Kxx of spades and I had TPTK, and the nut flush draw. The bet around 1/3 of the pot and I re-raised all in. He doesn't have a whole lot of experience with poker and I knew if he had anything he would call. Fortunately for me, he had started with JJ and called. I ended up making the flush and he didn't catch anything. That had set me up to play some pretty nice big stack poker and bought a few pots and kept my chip lead up for a good while.

It got down to me, my wife, and her father. They were both about even and I had a good bit more than the two of them. I don't remember the exact hand now, but I busted my wife out next with a higher two pair then she said. She was getting to the point where she was just tired and didn't really want to play any more.

Finally down to heads-up it was my father-in-law and me. We went a few rounds with me pretty much throwing my stack around and bullying a good bit. The last hand he had pocket threes, I had position and raised up about 3-times his bet with 67s. He called and we went to the flop. The flop was A7x and he checked, I raised about 3/4 the pot. After a little bit of thinking he called. With the action I figured he had maybe two connected broadway cards, or maybe a middle pair. Luckily the turn was a 7 and I made my two pair. He checked again, and I once again made a raise which just about put him all in. After a quick chip count he ended up shoving the last few chips in. I called and he turned over his pair of 3's and didn't get lucky on the river.

It was a good time. I had fun playing and made a few quick bucks along the way. My friends from school all agreed we should make it a regular thing. So once we get a few more people (I don't think the in-laws or my wife want to play regularly) we'll start setting something up. If one of the probably 3 people that have read this blog are around Phoenix, Az., hit me up and lets get something going.

Back to the Grind....

Well, well welll. That sure was a long break from poker. It had been a pretty busy last few months. Aside from getting out of the Navy, going back to school, and getting a full time job, I just haven't had much time for poker lately. I've had the itch, just haven't really been able to scratch it properly.

In my Calc. class, one of my buddies needed some help. So I've been helping him out a little bit too. Come to find out, this dude used to play a ton of poker. I haven't really had anyone in real life to talk to about poker, let alone someone who really knows what he is talking about. I played a few hands with him the other night, and have been back at it since then. I'm not really following proper BR management right now, and I'm playing some 5NL and played a few times at 10NL. Here soon I'm going to deposit a good bit more and bring my BR up to where it should be for these levels. Right now I'm just playing with what was left on Stars.

I think I'm going to stick with it this time. I know I've said that before, but I shouldn't have any more stuff popping up in life that's to crazy. Plus, like I said, I now have someone to talk to about poker. We shall see though.

I Did Ok in My First BIG MTT

Well I haven't played a whole bunch of poker lately. I think I'm a bit tilted on the down swing I've been having. I knew it was going to come, and I figured it would come hard. My winrate was super high and I new I couldn't keep something like that going for to much longer. I've been playing in some of the free rolls lately. I've missed a couple of the CC freerolls but hopefully I'll start making the time for them.

I played in on of the "Hubble's NL" freerolls. There are like 9000 guys to start with and only 72 get advanced to the next round. I was doing really good. I made a couple right plays and the biggest thing that set me up; I picked up AA when three other people pushed in.



That set me up really good. It gave me great opportunites to steal some blinds and just push people around. I made it all the way down to like 256 people. I though I was golden. I knew that this was going to be the toughest part of the freeroll, but I thought I was playing pretty damn good. I look down and see two cowboys sitting there. I was like great! I just need to not see and ace on the flop and I'm set. Here's the hand history for that hand:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 0 Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 100 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



SB (t100272)

BB (t20885)

UTG (t5452)

UTG+1 (t34116)

MP1 (t48849)

MP2 (t103945)

Hero (MP3) (t105784)

CO (t13350)

Button (t32814)



Hero's M: 39.18



Preflop: Hero is MP3 with K, K

UTG calls t1200, 2 folds, MP2 calls t1200, Hero bets t5000, 2 folds, SB calls t4400, 1 fold, UTG raises to t5352 (All-In), MP2 calls t4152, Hero calls t352, SB calls t352



Flop: (t23508) 9, 3, Q (4 players, 1 all-in)

SB checks, MP2 bets t3600, Hero raises to t23000, 1 fold, MP2 calls t19400



Turn: (t69508) J (3 players, 1 all-in)

MP2 checks, Hero bets t77332 (All-In), MP2 calls t75493 (All-In)



River: (t220494) 4 (3 players, 3 all-in)



Total pot: t220494


Needless to say, I was extremely pissed. Part of it was my fault. The guy that pushed in with the AJo had to small of a stack to make a proper bet, so I couldn't reraise. If i would have noticed that (which I should have) I could have raised a little less so that some one could have reraised. If I could have shoved, the guy with Q9o wouldn't have called. Either way it is way passed my bedtime and I need to get some sleep tonight. Hopefully my luck will start to turn around a little bit and I can shake off some of these losses. Good luck at the tables.

More Good Luck With Technology

Well my fantastic luck with computers continues. After only a couple months of owning my new laptop, it decided to crap out. I need to take it in to gateway and see what they are going to do. I'm pretty sure I can salvage the hard drive, if nothing else. I hope so because I'm just about done with restarting my poker Databases.

Well any way, I started to play a bit of poker today and that did not go very well at all. I was expecting a bit of a downswing (I've been running at a winrate of about 35ptBB/100). I didn't think I could hold that winrate for too much longer. Well here is just an example of how I was running:

On the turn I was a 95% favorite to win this hand. As you can see, the river brought one of the two cards that he needed. I also ran into AK

I don't know if you noticed, but that is a Holdem Manager screen. While my other computer is down, I figured I'd go ahead and download the trial of HM. So far it's ok, It will take a bit of getting used to but I'll let you know how it was when my trial is up.