comp back up

I got my computer back up and running. It's not perfect but I've got a temporary fix set up. Sooner or later I'll spend the money to buy a new machine. Anyways, see you at the tables.

stupid computer

Currently not able to play any poker. Been having computer troubles and can't connect to the internet at home at the moment (I'm at work right now, shhhhh don't tell). Hopefully I'll be able to get this problem fixed and back to playing.

Over 7 Months

It's been over 7 months since I have posted here. I have not been playing poker (at all), which is no good. World of Warcraft has taken hold of my free time. Anywho, once I get paid I think I might put a bit of money back in my online account.

Hello again
solitary

haven't posted in a while

Although I doubt that anyone checks this daily hoping for some new words of wisdom I suppose I will explain. I have been going through some personal shit that has kinda taken the majority of my time.


Girls......



Anyways, I played in my first live tourney. $30 buy-in at Riverside Casino (outside of Iowa City). I played alright but was completely card dead. I believe my best hand was A-10 off. I won 2 pots before I busted. It was still a fun experience. They have them every Thursday evening so I imagine I will be playing almost every week.

Bad life decision

I have started to play World of Warcraft. This will no doubt be the demise of my semester.

Merry Christmas (or other assorted wintertime holidays)

Christmas is this Monday and oh boy..... I can't wait for it to be over. Forced gift giving makes me all warm and uncomfortable inside. At least my Christmas shopping is over and done with (I believe). I would not want to have to brave and big name stores this weekend. I'm sure they will be swamped with last-minute present buyers.

I am looking forward to seeing my family. It will be nice. I always like Christmas Eve. We have (for as long as I can remember) family and friends over on Christmas Eve. It is a holiday celebration that I actually enjoy.

I got an early present from one of my T.A.'s from this past semester. He miscalculated every one's grades and felt the need to correct his mistake. I went from a passing grade to a failing one. I get to take my software design class all over again.


Merry Christmas

Update on me

First poker related stuff.....

I was not able to play in the final BPT event of this season. I was at my girlfriend's uncle's house for their family Christmas celebration. I think (hope) they liked me. Anyways....

this is the result of the final event. The top 20 is as follows:

Skinski's Blog	1125
Irongirl01	1016
Scary Poker	871
Poker Pub	858
Peetscheet	830
Poker Athletes Blog	749
Flopilicious	734
astinaguys poker blog	712
Perfectly Beastly	711
Freerollcalendar Weblog	708
Alex	701
I hate money	681
Royal Poker	677
Gamingology	642
Evil666	631
EgonOlsenPoker	605
riverdemon	582
PearlSnapMan Plays Poker	560
5TH Street Forum	546
Life, The Universe and Poker	538

These people (blogs) will move on to the grand final on the 23rd of this month. You can check out up to the second chip counts here.


Played a few hours of poker today. I lost $10 pretty quickly on a .10/.25 table and then moved down to the .05/.10. I was doing fairly well (up to $20 or so from $5) when I lost $10 in one hand. Had 88 and (s)he hit a 6 on the river to make a set. I left the table a short while later with about $8.

I also dumped $20 into the $1,500 guaranteed(1R/A) this afternoon. Busted out pretty quickly and then used my 1 rebuy. I was short stacked near the first break and I picked up aces. I pushed (had little else I could do). Person thinks for a few seconds and calls. He then proceeds to crack my aces with ace-7. He picked up his final card for the straight on the river. The table then goes to break (without me).

Finally, I placed 6th in a $5+.50 shorthanded. I busted out with pocket sixes against ace king off suit. No bad beat (for me) or anything like that. I got lucky 2 times after the bubble burst when I made marginal calls. Other than that I think I played alright.



Non-poker news:

I passed all my classes. Go me!

Shorthanded Hold'em

Played a $5 NLHE shorthanded last night on Poker.com. I have to say that I'm not really a fan of shorthanded. Well I suppose thats a lie, I'm just not used to it. I haven't played much shorthanded poker except for home games (but that's a little different in my opinion). It was not too odd except for when it was nearing the final table. There were 28 people (I think) in the tourney and I ended up busting out 7th or 8th (top 5 got paid). It was odd playing with only 4 people on a non-final table. I was trying to stay alive for the FT but didn't want to get there with no chips. I usually play pretty tight near the bubble and loosen up when the FT get a little low on players. I just must have played loose to early and ended up trying to push someone out of a hand at a bad time. It's alright though, I made a little more than the entry fee back playing 5¢/10¢ at the same time as the tourney. Overall, I played well untill the last 10 or so hands where I went considerably downhill.


I've added a list of poker blogs to this site. They are blogs that fit in one (or more) of the following:

• I enjoy reading it
• it contains useful information
  
• I know/respect the blogger
• it's just sweet and deserves to be there for some other reason

The list will probably change from time to time so check it every so often. Click the links and read better blogs than this one.



Personal notes:

• last final is on Friday morning (9:45 am)
• I will probably sell my textbooks back and then go to Riverside Casino and play poker with that money
• not sure if I will be able to play in the BPT event this Sat. (I may be going to my girlfriends family Christmas event)
  

I am so tired

Was up all last night working on Java programs for my Intro to Software Design class. If anyone want to look at them they are here (username: swd, password: qwerty). More school stuff to do tonight after I get off work. Then more to do tomorrow... and the next day. I just want it to be next Friday so I can be done with this semester. Then maybe I can play some poker. I played some this past week and it has been all down hill. Finished 23rd in a $1,500 guaranteed on Poker.com (that $450 first prize would have been nice). I lost most of my money on Pitbull Poker at the .50/$1 tables. I am, however, up to 52 comp points there, halfway to being able to cash out any winnings from the free $10 I got. You just don't get pots big enough for points on the .10/.25 tables there. I'll just have to grind it out and work my way back up.

Also, when the semester is over I'll be able to head back out to the Riverside Casino. I'm yearning for some live play and if I have some money I'd like to be able to get in a good 8 hour session. I might be able to get some blackjack practice in too.

Anyways, I'm going to cut back on poker for a bit. I'm thinking about picking up a copy of Pokemon and playing that. It's much less irritating.

EDIT: Just lost my last pennies at PitbullPoker. Fucker calls an almost pot sized bet with an open-ended straight draw, hits on the river. I'll probably just play freerolls there and see if I can get some more free money.

Even though I said I wouldn't...

I have been playing poker this week. Made a FT at Pitbull Poker last night on a $5+.50 NLHE tourney. Was playing at my girlfriends apartment while watching Monsters Inc. Unfortunately I got no payout because only the top 3 were getting paid. There weren't that many people in the tourney. I think I made 7th (but I don't remember right now). Fortunately I made some money in a ring game at the same time. Current Pitbull Poker bankroll: $64.

Also, I played the $1,500 Guaranteed R/A this afternoon on Poker.com. Played well (in my opinion) up until the 1st break. There were 40 or so remaining at the first break. Since I was 10th in chips after other people added on I opted not to add on. This may have been a mistake (I am never sure how to play these types of tournaments). The problem came immediately after the break. I flopped 2 pair from the small blind. My only caller picked up a straight on the turn and I was down to about 10xBB. I was tilting a little from the hit and donked the rest of my chips away a few hands later. Current Poker.com bankroll: $83 (approx.)



I have some (personal) Blogger Poker Tour news to report. I received my BPT coupon and am psyched about it. Unfortunately for our hero, I will be working this Saturday during the tourney. It looks like I will be blinded out for my first BPT appearance. The host blog for the upcoming event is Flopilicious.com. Good luck to all those participating.

Also BPT related is the creation of a custom BPT google search. I would like to thank Mike from the Poker Pub for the creation. I will be adding the code for the search bar after finishing this post. Terms will be searched within all of the BPT participating blogs.



I joined up with this recently created poker community. We will be playing frequent MTT's on Poker.com. The first tourney will be Friday Dec. 15th at 9pm (lobby time). The plan is to move through several different types of poker (Texas Hold'em, Omaha, etc...). Feel free to register for the forums and say hi. Things haven't really gotten into high gear yet but when the group grows things should be kicking. I post under the forum name: solitary.

Ok, I guess I lied

I have been playing some poker over this here little break of mine. I have been playing tonight on PitbullPoker.com. The site is annoying but I am able to play it at home better than Poker.com. For some reason my parent's internet connections hiccups a lot (that's the best word I can think of to describe it). Because of that Poker.com software seems to get d/c a lot and it's quite annoying. Since I'm playing with "free money" at Pitbull it's not as big of a deal. Although, it did suck when it made me muck cowboys pre-flop and I would have made $5-6 off the hand (2 small stacks all-in pre-flop). Other than that not much. Current Pitbull bankroll has been upped to $55 or so. Poker.com sits at about $120 after a $100 withdrawal the other day.

Other interesting gambling events today. I won $23 at my aunt/uncles this afternoon at our Thanksgiving get together. We played a game of complete chance and I won once. The game is called Left-Center-Right. Basically you play with 3 $1 bills (or $5 or $10 or $20....) and you roll dice. The dice have an R, L, C, and dot on them (I don't remember which have 2). Basically you roll the 3 dice and do what the dice says. You pass a dollar to the right, left, or center for R, L, and C. You do nothing if you get a dot. Eventually only one person has any money in front of them and they will it all. It's fun and easy and fairly cheap. Best of all, I happened to win the second time we played. Happy Thanksgiving.

caffeine/poker/vegas

I think I'm becoming addicted to caffeine again. If the late afternoon/early evening comes and I haven't had any caffeine start to get a headache (like right now). I was severely addicted at the end of this previous spring semester but when summer came around I got over it. I had no need to drink coffee and do homework. I don't know what happened this past week or two but I've been getting headaches again. I'm not sure if it's the caffeine but it usually helps get rid of them, so I'll go with that.


Poker.
Let's see, where do I stand right now. Current Poker.com balance is about $150. I with drew $50 this past weekend after a rush on Saturday. I played in my first $10 NLHE MTT (placed 4th: $59). Also, I hit my first royal flush on Saturday. With king/jack of clubs in the hole I picked up ace/queen/rag all clubs on the flop. I already had the nut flush and I was hoping people would be into me. Two people to the turn (some card not of note) and then to the river. Picked up the ten of clubs on the river to complete the royal. I didn't even bet because I was willing to take the royal flush bonus (I wasn't going to get 100bb out of them). Since I was on a 10¢/25¢ table I picked up $25 for my royal. The royal and the $10 NL tourney combined with some money I made on the 10¢/25¢ tables I was up about $120 on Saturday.

Went down some on Sunday and Monday and the picked up about $30 yesterday (Tuesday) morning before work. Ended up cracking aces with pocket 10's (got real lucky) and then picked up a straight against the same persons 2 pair later on. While the calls I made weren't too terrible, thinking back on them, I probably shouldn't have made them.

Since I started online I've been mostly playing the 10¢/25¢ tables. Since my place in the money on Saturday (was my first $10 tourney) I've decieded to play a bit more tourney poker. I enjoy it more and I think (when playing in the right state of mind) I'm better at it. I don't have class tomorrow and I don't work untill 5pm so I'll be hitting the internet felt for much of the day.


Vegas.
I need $300. Anyone got any spare change?
A few of my roommates and I are planning on going to Las Vegas at some point over winter break. I figure I need about $300 for airfare/hotel/foodstuffs. So far, the airfare/hotel packages we've looked at have been about $230 or so per person for 2-3 days. I plan on taking a hit to my Poker.com bankroll to help fund this trip. I'm hoping to have about $200 - $300 to gamble with. I will be looking on the internet for reviews of poker rooms. I'm thinking that $1/$2 and $2/$4 tables would probably be about right. If anyone has any suggestions about low limit poker in Vegas let me know. Also, any suggestions on places to stay for cheap and/or cheap airfare would be nice.

I'm hoping to get in some live poker room practice at the Riverside Casino near here (Iowa City) before I go to Vegas. Since I've only played home games and online I'm thinking it might be a good idea. Any tips for a first time casino poker trip would be appreciated.

Who is solitary?

I am solitary!

My name is John and I am an engineering student at the University of Iowa. I am studying (from time to time) computer engineering. Any opinions stated herein are my opinions (unless otherwise stated). Also, while I will attempt to tell the truth, this blog is by no means necessarily factual.

I took the internet tag 'solitary' from Xbox Live. I was hoping to use 'ph34r' (yeah it's really lame I know) as my xbl tag but was not able to. One of the suggested names given by Xbox Live was SolitaryPh34r. I took that as my xbl tag. In order to shorten my name on xbl I was simply called, for the most part, solitary. I have grown accustomed to this tag and taken it to be my name on the internet.

If you want to contact me, talk to me, chat, rendezvous, scream at me, congratulate me, or otherwise make something know to me you can do so these ways.

e-mail: xjohng (AT) gmail.com
aim: xjohng
msn: gooliquer (AT) msn.com (though I prefer aim)
icq: 215127009 (aim prefered)

Also, my new xbox live tag is "IAmSolitary". So if you want to play just go ahead and add me. My friends list isn't full yet so I'll probably add you even if I don't know who you are. If my friends list fills up you might have to message me elsewhere if you want to play.

that's all for now.