Happy Thanksgiving....Be Safe!

Last night was my last night of poker for the holiday weekend..............I had planned on played several hours but my kids had a different idea............needless to say I had to shut down the tables after only 50 minutes (only about 40 of which I was actually at the computer and not sitting out).
Note to self......wait until the kids are actually asleep before firing up the tables........I need to play 500 raked hands to clear the bonus........I planned on getting in 200-250 last night..........I got in... 60!........oh well......fatherhood reared it's head. I did finish up 10BB on the evening but it could have been A LOT MORE.......the table was juicy!

I will be spending the holiday weekend at my in-laws.........playing playstation with my brother in-law and enjoying a lot of quality family time. Hopefully I will come back refreshed and ready to hit the tables.......wishing all an enjoyable holiday and be safe.

See you at the tables.

The Next Step.....

It's been too long since my last post........several things have caused this........busy at work.......wife's birthday weekend........and my monthly home game.

Work is......well.....it's work.

The wife enjoyed the weekend very much and was very happy......which means I'll be happy.

The Home Game: I play in a monthly home game that has always been $.50/1 limit. This past Saturday we talked prior and decided to play a couple hours of our usual limit and then play a no limit tourney......I should mention I had never lost money any month to date......that was about to change.......I had a cold card streak that was horrible. Couldn't get anything going in the limit game and lost my buy-in. The no limit tourney came around and my streak continued.....I was able to steal some blinds due to the no limit structure but couldn't get anything going......after the first two busted out I was in the cut-off and looked down to find pocket Jacks....."finally" I thought to myself.......there was a minimum raise and 2 callers behind me........I re-raise all-in and the button folds........... small blind thinks for a moment and then calls.........my Jacks ran into his Queens and with no help he busts me out..........a rough night at the home game.

Online hasn't been great.......I am signed up with Remmy's Super System and hoping to get help identifying problem areas in my game......leaks......unfortunately I think I'm like a collander and definitely look forward to getting some outside "expert" views at specific hands and how I handled them and what I could do differently to improve......I said before I am looking forward to it and think the outside help will help my overall game improve quicker.

I just purchased Poker Tracker and downloaded the other hands on my computer since the 1000 hand demo stopped. I currently have only 1253 hands in PT and my first review is at 1500 hands. I received an e-mail from Party Poker giving me a 50% bonus up to $100 if I deposited so I made a deposit and took the full bonus. I have heard that Party Poker has bad customer service but my first experience was a good one.......after depositing the $$$ the bonus wasn't showing up in my account so I called customer service........they stated that the offer had expired before I deposited the money and was no longer good......I thought the e-mail said I had until midnight on the 22nd.........the rep conferred with someone and very quickly returned stating the full deposit had been added to my account. Viola!

So my climb to 1500 hands on Empire is on a 500 hand hiatus while I try and build my bankroll a little bit by clearing this bonus.......won't be long.

I'm currently rated in PT as Tight Passive Aggressive..........striving for Tight Aggressive Aggressive.....we shall see if I ever get there...........I'm down 67BB in my 1253 hands thus far so I need to do some more reading on post flop play......and like I said.....look forward to my review.

I'll be out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend with no computer so good luck to everyone and have a happy and safe holiday.

Baz Out.

Ring Games

Played around 700 hands over the weekend two tabling $.50/1 on Empire. Overall I finished down about 16BB (that's off the top of my head). I feel I played fairly well for the most part......the table make-up at Empire is definitely different than UB and that's taking a little getting used to. I avoided going on tilt all weekend which is excellent for me and something I am trying to focus on for sure. I am controlling my pre-flop hand selection and looking to maximize my post-flop play....minimizing the mistakes I make here. I can't believe how quickly the bonus gets cleared at Empire compared to UB.......I have almost cleared my full bonus.....another couple of nights (maybe one) and it will all be cleared..........I left a little bit of $$$ at UB for sit-N-go's when I want or need a change of pace......I decided to fire up a $5 sit and go along with my two limit tables Sunday night and won it.........not too bad......

Here's hoping Iggy returns next week from Vegas with full pockets and tons of tales.......I feel an uber post upon his return. Good Luck!

First Night at Empire

Last night I deposited my bankroll at Empire after deciding over a week ago to leave UB and move over to Party/Empire where I hear the games are fishy, fishy, fishy. In addition to being my first night at Empire......It was also my first night using Poker Tracker and that kept me busy while I was doing all that folding at the tables.......I am definitely overwhelmed by all the info that Poker Tracker can provide so I am going to take it one step at a time......Use it to help me analyze my own game for starters.

I sat down at one $.50/1 table to get started......Around 8:30pm.......I've heard Friday and Saturday nights are SUPER fishy and that definitely was the case with the majority of time 4 or more people seeing the flop with a lot of calling and minimal raising.....there were two other solid players at my table and we simply seemed to stay out of each others way........While getting the feel for the one table I worked on PT and making sure I had the hands being downloaded and read........Once I thought that was working ok I fired up table #2 which was around 9pm.

I played very solid pre-flop and thought I played fairly well after the flop although I definitely need to work on this part of my game......I think I could have gotten another bet or two on a couple of pots I took down and probably called several bets that I should have laid down.

A couple I remember: I flopped the nut flush and was bet into....I raised and was re-raised....I capped the betting when maybe I should have simply called to try and get the extra bet on the turn or river when it was $1. Another hand I had AK in EP and the flop came QJ10.....I bet and was called by 3 others......the turn brought another J......I bet.......was raised.....and instead of calling him down with a paired board I re-raised and he capped it......NOT ONLY THAT........I DID IT AGAIN ON THE RIVER with a blank and he turned over QJ for the jacks full of queens. I wasn't happy with the way I focused sooooo much on my flopped straight and not only couldn't lay it down....but kept raising and capping it. Time will tell if I learned from that one..........I didn't go on tilt which was hard right at first and something that would have happened to me in the past.....I was proud of myself for that anyway.

I ended the night around midnight a total of 20BB down combined at both tables. I still can't believe the number of people who showed down with garbage hands.....busted draws that they called at the river......2nd or 3rd pair.......unbelievable.......

I'm looking forward to more evenings at Empire as well as learning more and more on how to best utilize Poker Tracker.

I'm still getting used to having to play with my monitor resolution set at 1600X900 so two tables can fit at the same time......the mini view at UB was definitely nice for multi-tabling.

If anyone has any suggestions on monitors (maybe a two monitor set-up) or tips for Poker Tracker I'd love to hear them.....Any suggestions, thoughts, or whatever are always welcome from the 2 of you out there that may pop in to read this.......

Thanks....and be safe.

Empire Starts Tonight

I will be making my first deposit into Empire tonight!.....Empire is a skin of Party Poker so they share ring games and have different tourney's.........I'm looking forward to starting fresh and working on building my bankroll.......Will be starting at the .50/1 limit tables and going up levels as bankroll allows. In the meantime I have been studying up on post-flop play and will be sticking to a very strict pre-flop hand selection.

It will also be my first time using PokerTracker so we'll see how that goes......I am overwhelmed by the look of it and all it seems to be able to do and will be curious to see how long the learning curve is for it.

More this weekend.

Linkage.....

Mad thanks to The Blog Father, IGGY, for helping me out getting my link list started on the sidebar. I spent parts of days exploring the Blogger Help files......Endless links to what seemed like a foreign language land.........Copying and pasting code with no success.........Thanks Iggy!

Reflection on the Weekend.....

This past weekend I played a fairly small amount of poker online. I made the decision to move over to Party last week and leave UB behind. I simply needed to finish clearing my bonus and then I was going to move the majority of my bankroll over.....leaving a small amount behind for $5 Sit-N-Go's and maybe a MTT or two until I made some money or lost it all.

Friday night I decided to play a sit and go or two......1st one took fourth and the second one I took third getting $10 back of the $11 I had spent on the two.........I then decided to play $.25/.50 NL ring game to finish off the last $6 or $7 worth of bonuses I have yet to clear. My bankroll was down to $30 at this point and I figure I'll see what happens.........Within the first orbit I had my stack up to $75......I'm smiling......playing tight smart poker......I'll clear this bonus and cash out..............

Not 10 minutes later I get dealt American Airlines in LP...........EP raises $3........folds to me.......I put him on a high pocket pair as my fairly short image of him was tight......I was hoping he had Big Slick..........I reraise $10.........folds to him.........he thinks for what felt like forever........he re-raises me another $10...........now I'm confident he has a high pocket pair.....JJ or better..........I move All-In............he thinks again for what feels like forever........ He has me covered by about $10.........He calls..........His QQ is turned over to my AA..........Flop comes Q 10 7 .........Turn and River are both 7's giving him Q's full 7's over my 7's full A's........just when I thought I'd double up.......boom.........that's poker.

The last couple dollars of my bonus money at UB will sit in limbo......I'm not redepositing there for awhile........I am spending the next week or two reading some poker books and getting my plan together to do this thing right and improve my game. I win a little, lose a little, win a little, lose a little, and then boom......I have to get over that hump.......I need help identifying the leaks in my game......getting pokertracker will NO DOUBT help but I'm looking into more than that.

I want a third party to evaluate and review my game. There is a poker community that I talked with a month or two ago that I am going to be joining.......I think it will help expedite my learning curve to have a third party person review my hand histories and stats and give me an objective view and identify leaks. I will update on how it goes.

Poker Direction......

I have been thinking alot over the past couple of days about where I want to be as a poker player.........A major mistake I believe I made was starting out at UB with my small bankroll.......I have simply existed there even though my playing has improved overall............My plan is to keep the small amount of money I have at UB there for the time being in order to play the $5 sit-N-go's......The rake is too high at Party for this buy-in.............

I will start fresh with a new deposit at Party...............Starting at the $.50/1 limit tables and go to work on 2 tables at a time.............I downloaded PokerTracker last night and have to admit I am overwhelmed by it.........I would have gotten it a LONG time ago if the UB support was better..............I will try and take it in small chunks and learn as much as I can about it and how to utilize it to my benefit............the main thing I want to do initially is get it set up to download and read my hand histories automatically..........If I get that set-up this weekend then I'll be doing good.......We shall see...........I will also be searching PokerTracker's forum for additional help and info to get and keep me going.

Any pointers and help for this PokerTracker newbie are much appreciated.

Just The Motivation I Needed This Morning

After my post this morning I was surfing some blogs and came across a great write up by Double As that was just what I needed!

Thanks and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did!

I'll be setting that goal and doing what it takes to get after it!

Brutal Night for Bankroll

Last night I was able to get back online and play some poker after our out of town guests left.........I sat down and fired up two .25/.50 NL tables..........An hour and a half later I was down 100BB. I could sit here and whine about bad beats but the truth of the matter is I was stupid..........I am dying to clear my bonus at UB so I can cash out and move over to Party so I continue to play over my bankroll trying to clear it faster which seems ok if I don't play too far over my head and PLAY SMART!!!! The whole problem last night was I was inconsistent and not playing well. I should have recognized it and bailed. I couldn't lay down hands that I should be able to lay down early on and then when I started to turn it around and lay down my straight in MP to a pot sized bet with four to a diamond flush on the board.......The guy behind me calls and I'm thinking someone has the nut flush.......EP has top pair, Jacks with an Ace kicker and caller has SECOND PAIR!!! NO FLUSH!! I still think it was a proper lay down but it sent me on tilt for a few minutes before I shut it down.....Pissed.

I definitely need to go back to school........LIMIT TABLES ONLY.........Finish off my bonus this way at UB and move over to Party. Before this weekend I was having a good run at the UB NL Ring games........I will have to revisit them another time......Right now it's back to limit and learning.

Inaugural post on election day

I have played various forms of poker for years at family gatherings.....Holidays...Etc. I always enjoyed the games, the competitiveness, the rush. Approximately a year ago I found online poker and began dabbling in the free money games on Party Poker.....Texas Hold 'Em. Money was tight (as it still is) and I looked at it as an enjoyable way to kill some time once in awhile. I browsed a few discussion boards and became increasingly interested in getting some real money deposited online. As summer 2004 approached I spoke with an acquaintance who recommended UB due to their user friendly interface. He was the first person I had known to have played online for real money and I trusted his input........I made my first deposit. That is where I began......June of 2004........Sitting at a 1/2 limit table on UB. I had no real clue what I was doing at that point......Although I thought I did. I was playing way over my bankroll and playing different limits, sit-n-go's, and multi's nightly. I hadn't played online for over a week when I was in Las Vegas for my anniversary determined to get some Texas Hold 'Em in during my stay. New York New York didn't have a poker room so I made my way to the Bellagio Friday morning.......Sitting at a 4/8 table after buying in for $100 I did well that first day playing for 5 hours and cashing out for $350. I thought I was good........Didn't realize then that I was just lucky and playing way over my head. Sunday morning didn't treat me as well as I burned through my $100 buy-in like gangbusters. I re-bought for another $100 and when all was said and done I cashed out a total of $50 down for the day....Another 5 hours.

I was in love.

I still didn't realize how over my head I was playing in those 4/8 limit games at the Bellagio until I got back home and re-entered the online playing world at UB. I went through my initial deposit within the next couple of weeks barely clearing my bonus in the meantime. I re-deposited and began slowly losing that as well. I then became determined to LEARN all I could. I had been playing without a plan and desperately needed to develop one. I held off playing for a couple of weeks and bought Jones WLLH book. After reading it I was determined to focus on my pre-flop play. Once I am comfortable with handling the pre-flop decisions then I can focus on learning situations post-flop. I didn't think it would take soooooo long. I am improving steadily now. I began reading discussion group boards and stumbled across The BlogFather. I read uber post after uber post.........Explored many of the links and am still searching through them. (Those of you that have read the Guinness fueled uber posts know why it has taken so long) The various blogs showed me that I wasn't alone and there were people out there that had gone through exactly what I was going through.......People that were working on exactly what I was working on......And people who had tried the exact same thing and didn't make it for various reasons. This definitely helped me out big time.........

Since that time I have continued to play on UB working off a sizable bonus from a referral I made to the site. I have learned what limits my current bankroll can handle and stick to them even if it will take a lot longer to get where I want to be.......I look at it as my education now......I probably would never have gotten to where I wanted to be the old way. I have learned a ton and plan on picking up a new book or two on Texas Hold 'Em. Probably Small Stakes Hold 'Em by Sklansky and another one I haven't decided on yet. I have a monthly limit game that I play in and we're considering going to a no limit ring game. I play in sit-n-go type tourney's live a couple times per month and a bigger multitable no limit tourney every other month.

I have two immediate goals for my Texas Hold 'Em play:

1. Finish getting my bonus off of UB and transfer my money to Party Poker.
2. Purchase Poker Tracker and learn how to best utilize it to help my game.

If anyone stuck around for the end of this......THANKS! I think this blog will help keep me focused in my poker playing. Sorry if I was all over the place in getting started.......I felt like I wanted to go a thousand different directions.......And maybe started to go several of them several times.

Special thanks again to The BlogFather, IGGY, who I am pumped to watch in his own journey after quitting his job to play poker full time. Good luck man......You're the reason I'm starting this blog.....Who knows where it will go from here.