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.

$5 NLHE

I finally won a buy-in MTT on Poker.com. I won the $5 no limit Hold'Em tourney just a little bit ago. I'm excited because it is my first MTT win that was not a freeroll (I won a NACPC* qualifier). It's a good start to the new year.

*NACPC - North American College Poker Championship

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.

Among other things.....

I really donked around today. Lost $30 in $10 buy-ins and some more in ring games. Ick, not my day. At first I just wasn't playing well and to top it off the deck was probably at about 16°F (I don't remember off-hand but 52off comes to mind). Also, both times I had cowboys the flop contained an ace (and so did my opponents hand). Oh well...

I played pretty well in the 1k freeroll today (Poker.com). I only made 2 real bad calls. One where I had a open-ended straight draw (that I caught) and the other with pocket aces. I picked up aces and had one person call my raise. Flop was Kd, Qd, 7(not sure what the suit was but it wasn't diamonds. Bet 4xBB on the flop. Turn was a rag (4 of clubs maybe). Bet again, called again. When the diamond hit on the turn I knew I was beat. However, since it was a freeroll and I was going to have to go to work soon anyways I called. He showed a J7 of diamonds and I was out.



I joined this poker site today. I joined it for a few reasons. Mainly because they give you $10 for just signing up. The clearing requirements are pretty steep (200 of their comp points)and you have to deposit to withdraw), but it's free. The other nice thing about this site is that there is no software. It is a completely flash based platform. Now, it's not really the best platform (it has been kinda sluggish on both computers if played on), but it's nice because I'm playing poker at work (and I'll be able to play on the girlfriend's computer after she goes to bed).

All in all, the site really isn't that great. I wouldn't recommend it for regular play. However, for someone who doesn't play often or just wants to play for free, it's nice. I can't see myself depositing any money there unless I happen to make a bunch from the free $10. If that does happen though, they do have a 200% deposit bonus that I found at wsop.com. They have $50 freerolls every hour and they offer $1 MTT's. While you can make much off of them they're nice for playing at work (I won one while writing this post). Since they're only $1 (+25¢) you can leave them if you get busy doing something else without losing much.

If you decide to join you should let me know. I'd like to refer you (I can make some money if you deposit and the play enough) so you should either:

• e-mail/aim/msn/smoke signals or otherwise contact me you register and I will send you a refer-a-friend e-mail

or

• make an account and let customer suppost know that I refered you and they can link you to my account(not sure what info they'll want about me)
  

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.