IE is crap

Ok, so I didn't realize until I tried pulling up my site at work, but in Internet Explorer my site is slightly broken. All the links to the right have been pushed to the very bottom after all my posts. I think it has to do with where I've put the google ads. I'm not going to worry about fixing it right now as once the WSOP is over, I'll be moving them back to the top of my page and things seem to work fine that way. So, if you are using IE, scroll down if you need the links or better yet, switch to Firefox, it's a much better browser.

Too Much Tilt

Ok, so as you are aware, I've been playing 25c/50c Limit at Poker.com. I started out well, I was up $25 in about 2 days. Which for me is really good. Then I quickly lost that profit in one session the next day. Alot of it was variance. If I'd catch trips, someone would have the case card with a better kicker. If I would catch a straight, the guy chasing a backdoor flush would complete on the river. But, I've come to realize the rest of the loss was due to tilt. I hate losing. I REALLY hate losing. Rob can attest to this. I am an extremely competitive person and in any game I play, I have to be the winner. I do realize that in poker you can't win every session, that it's the long term you have to think of. But man, when you play well and an idiot wins due to luck, it's hard not to get angry. I'm working on not tilting, but this last week has made me realize I have a long way to go. But, the good news is, if I do get better at not going on tilt, I will lose less and likely win more.

Recommendation

Okay, to all you bonus chasers out there, I have a site recommendation for you: Poker.com. Right now they have a 100% deposit bonus up to $100 and entry into a $500 freeroll for the next seven days. The freeroll has a pretty decent pay out. About 80 people play and top 10 pay out. First is $150. Rob started playing at this site before me and ended up winning $190 from just the freerolls alone. The bonus seems relatively easy to clear even at 25c/50c limit. And there seems to be quite a few fish. Alot of chasing and calling down with just a high card (and not always an ace). So far, at the 6-max tables I've joined the average stack is only about $5. And, if I'm able to make money at the 25c/50c tables, it can only be due to either variance or really bad players. :)

I've been thinking...

Ok, so last night, I finished clearing my "last" bonus at Doyle's Room. I say last in quotes as I do have some to clear still, but I gave up on Titan and Full Tilt. I just play too small of limits to make it worth while. As well, for whatever reason, I was losing more money than I would make in the bonus at both sites. If I ever get a bigger bankroll (not likely in the near future as I withdraw a lot of what I win to put in our bank account), I might go back if they have reload bonuses.

Although, working on these bonuses have really made me wonder. What is my true skill level at poker? At Doyle's Room, I would play mainly 10c/20c limit, but if no one was playing those stakes I would move down to 5c/10c. As an aside, you can tell how small the site is compared to others when at some times during the day there was no one playing 10c/20c limit. Anyway, when playing those limits, I would just cream them. A couple times I doubled my buy-in and I think I left down only once or twice(suckouts are fun! :) ). But playing at these limits, the bonus wasn't clearing very fast. It wasn't as tedious as at Full Tilt or Titan, in which I had to play 25c/50c, but still relatively slow. So, if I was up $10 or $15 I'd move up to 25c/50c limit. Yeah, that never worked well. Everytime I did, I'd lose that $10-$15 I just won at the lower levels. Grrr....

So what does this mean? Is my skill level set at 10c/20c right now? Should I keep trying 25c/50c? Even though it is costing me money? I don't know. I do know that I have to wait before trying again, the last attempt definitely put me on tilt at that level. I also wondering if I should go back to NL, I do prefer it to limit. But, with my bankroll, I couldn't even think of playing at a 25c/50c NL table. The safest limit would probably be 5c/10c or just pushing it at 10c/25c. Poker just sucks sometimes.

Final League Game

Well, I didn't end up making any points in last nights league game. My Queens ran into Kings and I was crippled. I did end up doubling up a couple times, but it just wasn't enough to stay in. I'm happy either way, as I still ended up getting enough points from the rest of the games to end up in the Tournament of Champions. So I've got a chance to win some money with this freeroll. And if not, I did a lot better in the league than I thought I would, so it shows that at least some of my poker winnings are due to skill rather than luck or variance.

Party Bonus

Party Poker was offering up another deposit bonus, so of course I took them up on their offer. I've built up my roll quite a bit from this bonus whoring, so I was able to deposit $140 for a $21 bonus. I just had to play 210 raked hands.

The first couple bonus' I had at Party, I was able to play at their beginner's tables. Well, it turns out, you can only play at those tables for a limited period of time and I guess my time has run out. So I had to chose between 0.50c/$1 Limit or 0.10c/0.25c NL. I haven't really played at these limits before so I wasn't sure if I should try to clear the bonus or not. I didn't want to be playing with scared money.

I tried the limit first and within an hour ran through almost $10. Yeah, that wasn't good since my roll right now is just that $140 (I have almost $200 on Stars as well, but I need one buy-in for the league tourney and I've also decided to buy a share of TP for the WSOP, so unless TP cashes, that money is gone). So I figured I would move to the NL and just play super tight.

That seemed to work. I think it also helped that I was dealt QQ 5 times, AQ 3 times and KK 3 times within about 200 hands. And the key to getting those hands, is they actually held up! So when I finally cleared my bonus, I was also up $36. So that profitted me $57! Not bad for one day of playing poker.

New Addition

I've added a new feature to my blog. Since it's WSOP season I've added the headlines to the top of my page. All of the updates come from Pokerstars with their permission. Feel free to click on the links for updates.

Need a Cash Game Break

Today I decided to join a tourney at Stars. It was a $1.10 PL game. Funny thing, this is the first tourney (other than the league games) I've played in about a month. I've been bonus whoring and most sites those are easier to clear at cash tables.

I'm kinda tired of the cash games right now, so this is a good break for me. And the previous PL tourneys I've played I've done well on.

So I did make the money, but just barely. I seem to do well at the start of tourneys, then when it's getting close to the bubble, I go card dead so I can't really step it up and steal blinds. I was actually, almost eliminated with 20 left to go before the money (stupid play on my part) but was able to claw my way back and make it to the money. But, I still wasn't catching many cards. Finally got eliminated in 33rd, for a whole $2.40 pay-out! :)

The Dreaded Kiss of Death

Bah, eliminated in 7th in the league tourney all because of KK. This hand just never stands up to any hand it has dominated (although, I will admit he had a few outs on the flop). I'm just going to post the hand history, it's easier that way. Two hands later I push with big slick and get knocked out when someone with QT calls me.

PokerStars Game #5436106004: Tournament #26062027, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2006/07/02 - 22:21:30 (ET)
Table '26062027 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: eeejit101 (3300 in chips)
Seat 3: JDpoker$tar7 (1460 in chips)
Seat 4: N1kita (2690 in chips)
Seat 6: mcash2 (2585 in chips)
Seat 7: PShabi (3015 in chips)
Seat 8: MathBabe (2535 in chips)
Seat 9: gemini_J (2415 in chips)
JDpoker$tar7: posts small blind 50
N1kita: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to N1kita [Kh Kc]
mcash2: folds
PShabi said, "that's the least of my concerns"
eeejit101 said, "i can get 130"
eeejit101 said, "it just wont happen"
PShabi said, "I need to beat eej, decoder"
PShabi: calls 100
MathBabe: folds
gemini_J: calls 100
eeejit101: folds
JDpoker$tar7: calls 50
N1kita: raises 300 to 400
PShabi said, "mean, mb, and rr are chasing me"
PShabi: calls 300
gemini_J: calls 300
JDpoker$tar7: folds
*** FLOP *** [4h 8h 6d]
PShabi said, "yep"
PShabi said, "nik too"
N1kita: bets 800
PShabi: folds
eeejit101 said, "then he wants me in for as long as possible surely"
PShabi said, "I'm worried about TOC"
gemini_J: raises 1215 to 2015 and is all-in
N1kita: calls 1215
*** TURN *** [4h 8h 6d] [7d]
PShabi said, "and possibly top 4, that'll take at least a win and another cash probably"
*** RIVER *** [4h 8h 6d 7d] [Qh]
eeejit101 said, "ouch"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
N1kita: shows [Kh Kc] (a pair of Kings)
gemini_J: shows [5d 4d] (a straight, Four to Eight)
gemini_J collected 5330 from pot
mcash2 said, "i missed too many games"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5330 | Rake 0
Board [4h 8h 6d 7d Qh]
Seat 2: eeejit101 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: JDpoker$tar7 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: N1kita (big blind) showed [Kh Kc] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 6: mcash2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: PShabi folded on the Flop
Seat 8: MathBabe folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: gemini_J showed [5d 4d] and won (5330) with a straight, Four to Eight

Canada Day Home Game

Rob and I hosted another home game tonight. As usual, it was a $10 freeze out tournament. And since it was also a holiday for us Canadians, we also hosted a BBQ before the game got started. The food was plentiful and great. Hot dogs, sausages, hamburgers. Potato and bean salad, caesar salad. Corn on the cob and deviled eggs. We fed our friends well.

The tournament itself didn't last long for me. I ended up being the second one out. Unfortunately, I went all in with was I considered to be the best hand, but turned out I had been trapped (although, it was an unintentional trap) by my opponent. A min-raise in MP gets called by the button and myself in the SB with KJ. The flop came rag, rag J. I wasn't worried about AJ because the initial raiser wouldn't min raise with that hand (his min raises were a weak attempt to steal). I bet about half the pot and both the raiser and button call. When the turn came another rag, I knew I needed to make a move. I was out of position and if the min-raiser had a A, K or Q he would call to the river on smaller bets to try and catch a pair. The button was a tight player but he sometimes over values hands like QJ or suited cards. I decide to push, sure that if either call, I will have the best hand. The raiser folds and the button asks how much I have. So not an instant call. In fact, he was determining what his stack was going to be if he lost. So, before I state his cards, I did almost get him to fold. So, knowing that, guess what his hand was.....


Well, if you guessed QQ, you were right! When he didn't insta-call there was no way I would have thought he had an over pair. I dunno maybe it means I'm either a really good player or a really bad player, but if I had an over pair to that flop, I wouldn't pause to call. Anyway, my hand doesn't improve and he goes on to take second in the tourney. At least he put my chips to good use.

As for Rob, he won the whole thing. So that makes up for my not making any money AGAIN in our home game. This better not turn into the norm. I liked it much better when Rob and I both made it to the money pretty much every game.