Late Night, No Poker

I wanted to play poker so badly last night. Around 9:30 PM, I got my laptop ready and was about to run to the fridge to grab a Rockstar energy drink in preparation for a solid session of $100 NL. Unfortunately, my youngest decided to start crying and fussing at 9:32 PM. After my wife finished feeding him, I helped soothe him as best as I could while encouraging my wife to relax. What a long, crazy night...

Once all was said and done, I finally got some free time at midnight. But I was too tired to even fathom loading up any tables so I went to bed. Having kids is one of the best decisions that my wife and I ever made, but it sure as shit isn’t always sunshine and lollipops. The past week has been quite trying in terms of mine and my wife's collective sanity, but we're managing and taking it day by day.

I'm going to try and play poker tonight. I'll continue repeating that phrase until it becomes reality. I want to play poker. I want to get better. I'd like to someday be able to play in the Ultimate Blogger Grudge Match. It'd definitely be -EV for me but I'd like to play with those bloggers who take poker seriously and have the skills and bankrolls to prove it. As fun as it is to constantly read about who won this week's Mookie and MATH blogger tourneys, I'm more of a cash game player myself and I like to read about big pots won and lost. All exceptions aside, I also believe that cash game players tend to play better than tournament-only players though I'll admit that I'm biased in my view since I can't stomach the variance of tournament poker.

And while I'm at it, let me just say for the record that I hate it when people post hand histories and abbreviate Ace-Ten as "A10". Everyone knows that "AT" is the better convention!

I also hate the seats on the buses I take to and from work everyday. They all suffer from at least one of the following problems:

• The seats are too small.
• The seats are too contoured, hard, and downright uncomfortable.
• There's little to no leg-room.

I spend most bus rides either sitting ass to ass with Stinky McGee, thong-ing the hard plastic edge of the seat between my cheeks, or trying in vain to sit comfortably as my knees are grated to shreds by the textured aluminum backing of the seats directly ahead.

I'll also be cleaning up the list of blogs maintained on my site and adding some new blogs to the mix. Regrettably, I'll be removing all links to blogs that haven't been updated in the past few months. If I happen to remove your blog and you'd still like to be linked up again for whatever reason, just e-mail me and I'll put your link back up.

I'll also add the blogs of those playing in the big blogger cash game, namely:

• Riggstads Nut Straight (Riggstad)
• Runner-Runner-Rebuy (VinNay)
• Ice-cold Poker (SubZero)
• The Poker Grind
• O-Poker (cmitch)

By the way, if there are any bloggers out there focusing primarily on the mid- to high-stakes cash games (Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, whatever), drop me a line and I'll add your blog to my list. While I'm not looking to really learn much in terms of poker strategy from the higher-stakes players, I'm fascinated by the psychology of it all. I believe that the mental game is a large part of a poker player's success and watching how these players cope with hot streaks and losing streaks makes for good reading.

By the way, just a quick congrats to Al on his 1000 posts! Al's blog was the one of the first poker blogs that I ever read and he's the reason I decided to start blogging. And though our blogs could not be any more different, I do owe Al some thanks for introducing me to my biggest time sink in recent years.

I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of my first full month back at poker. Of course, by "full" I mean five hours at the tables but that's beside the point.

Have a good one!

Keep reading "Late Night, No Poker"

Peek-a-boo!

Rather than playing poker last night, I played peek-a-boo with my youngest son. I didn't win any money nor did I lose any money. I did, however, get to hear my son giggle his diaper off so it was definitely a +EV move. But if I get the chance to sit down down tonight at some time before 10:45 PM, I'll definitely be playing poker. I haven't played since last Friday and I really want to get a good session in before January's over.

I did play quite a bit of Mass Effect last night. Of course, I save all my video game discussions for my other site - The Greedy Gamer! There are a lot of great games coming out in 2008 (see my top 5 list here) and poker has afforded me enough money to buy any and all games I could possibly want.

Regardless of the video games coming out this year, poker will still be a major influence on how I choose to spend my free time. I'm serious about making it to the $1000 NL tables. The dream's alive though still in its infancy: I'll need more time at the tables before any of my poker-related ambitions get realized or cast aside. On Friday, I'd like to take a look at how things went in January and determine whether or not I'm still on course for some high-stakes poker starting in Summer 2009.

I'm pretty busy today so that's it for me. Have a good one!

Keep reading "Peek-a-boo!"

Surfin', Readin', Gamblin'

Every since I started taking poker seriously again - something which I aim to do at least once or twice a year - I've been reading a lot. I estimate that I read three to four poker-related books a week. You can imagine how much I'm looking forward to receiving my four new books from Amazon in next couple months. In the meantime, I'm re-reading the Sklansky/Miller opus No-Limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice. I'm starting to feel like I'm back in school again with all the studying that I've been doing...

Tonight I'll put my ever-refining poker skills to the test at Titan Poker's $100 NL tables. I'm still playing short-stack poker because it suits me quite well. The tables' big stacks think they can bully me and try to put me all-in on marginal holdings: of course, I'm happy to call with my typically solid hands.

I've also continued to look over countless notebook computer specs in a vain attempt to find my perfect poker computer. I've decided that I'd be happy with a notebook that has a WSXGA+ (1680x1050) LCD screen. A WSXGA+ screen would allow me to play two tables with zero overlap or four tables with some minor overlap. Unfortunately, WSXGA+ notebook computers are even harder to find than the poker-perfect WUXGA (1920x1200) notebook computers. Why do I drive myself crazy with this stuff? I think some might argue that I have an obsessive personality at times.

I've also looked briefly into the prospect of completing a player to player transfer on InterPoker in order to facilitate the extraction of my $100 worth of casino money at InterCasino. No luck. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I read that InterPoker has not allowed PTP transfers for quite some time.

But I'm getting ahead of myself with all this supercomputer and money-transfer talk. Tonight is about the poker. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can post a session review to help me better understand and accept the bad beats or lucky hands from tonight's session.

Have a good one.

Keep reading "Surfin', Readin', Gamblin'"

Quick Weekend Recap

I don't have much time to sum up this past weekend.

Here's the long and short of it:

• Played a little $100 NL at Titan Poker late Friday afternoon and lost a half buy-in after getting all-in pre-flop with my TT versus an aggressive player's AK.


• Lost $20 of free bonus money from InterPoker and lost it on my first hand at a $50 NL table. I posted in the big blind and got stacked in a heads-up pot where both my opponent and I hit our flushes on the river: my Queen-high lost to his King-high flush.


• I managed to run the $20 I had remaining at InterCasino up to $100; however, I can't touch the money until I've cleared an additional 93 MPPs at InterPoker. Unfortunately, I have no money at InterPoker and very few options for depositing there so I'll have to look into player to player transfers. Failing that, I may just gamble like a madman and try to win enough in the casino to make it worth my while to deposit via cheque or wire transfer at InterPoker.

I'm still feeling good about my game at this point. I've been playing pretty solid poker lately, though the games can be predictably dull at times since there's little room for creativity when playing the short-stack.

I'm nowhere near reaching my 5 hours of poker a week mark for January. Even so, I may take a little time to play more Mass Effect this week. I am aiming to play poker once or twice more before the month is up.

Oh, and I ordered a some more poker books for my birthday. I'll have to wait a few months before any of these books show up at my door but I'm not in a rush. Lots to keep me busy until then.

That's it for today! Have a good one!

Keep reading "Quick Weekend Recap"

Session Review #13: It's all in the flop

I managed to put in about an hour at Titan Poker's $100 NL tables last night. Although I made a few good plays here and there, I ultimately ended up down about 10 BB. The main obstacle that stood in the way to untold riches was my oppponents' insistence on not laying down their cards to my continuation bets. We've all had nights like that, though, and I recognize that this is just a part of the game we all know and love. Sometimes you just need the cards...

I've got some hands for review today. The first few are from my adventures at InterPoker's 6-max $50 NL tables a couple nights ago. I had a good session and just feel like discussing three of the hands that all but determined my session's outcome that night. I've also got a couple hands from last night's play at Titan Poker: in particular, I wanted to focus on a neat little play I made with a guy who loved to defend his blinds.

But first, let's start with InterPoker. This session took place after InterPoker/InterCasino gave me $20 to take to the poker tables. Although I was the short stack at this 6-max $50 NL table, I still had enough money to make a go for it. After sitting down, I quickly ascertained that two of my opponents were pretty loose and I was hoping that either one of them would be able to double me up.

It didn't take me very long to kick off the festivities...

InterPoker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG (LAG): $157.60
UTG+1: $94.55
CO: $14.75
Button (Hero): $19.25
SB: $54.75
BB: $61.30

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is Button with T♣ T♥
LAG calls, 2 folds, Hero raises to $2.5, 2 folds, LAG calls.

(With an SPR of 4, I was willing to commit post-flop with a set or overpair. I was still new to the table and hadn't seen the LAG play many hands.)

Flop: T♦ 8♦ J♥ ($5.75, 2 players)
LAG checks, Hero bets $5, LAG calls.

(I hit my set but the board was pretty scary. I bet close to pot in the hopes of taking it down but the LAG called. With two likely draws, I figured to push on the turn as long as I didn't see a diamond, a seven, a nine, or a queen fall.)

Turn: 9♠ ($15.75, 2 players)
LAG bets $1.5, Hero calls.

(Yuck! I didn't like the nine but the LAG's bet was small enough to give me odds to draw to the boat.)

River: 7♣ ($18.75, 2 players)
LAG bets $5, Hero raises to $10, LAG calls.

(They say "think long, think wrong" and I'd tend to agree. My first instinct was that I was beat on the river to my opponent's Queen-high straight. But then I thought that the LAG's bet on the turn might have been bigger had he held the Queen-high straight. In the end, I decided to simply raise on the river hoping for a fold that I knew would never come. )

Results (in white):

Final pot: $38.75
Hero shows Tc Th
LAG shows 9d Ac

With a terribly played hand behind me, I set out to take advantage of the LAG's poor choice in starting hands and questionable post-flop play. And let's not forget that I was seeking a little redemption myself after having embarrassed myself with my awkward river raise.

InterPoker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $42.72
UTG+1 (LAG): $160.14
CO: $93.58
BUTTON (FISH): $30.03
SB (Hero): $16.67
BB: $53.46

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with Q♠ Q♦

UTG folds, LAG raises to $1, CO folds, FISH calls, Hero raises to $5, BB folds, LAG calls, FISH folds.

(Now this is what I'm talking about: holding QQ with a raiser and a cold-caller already in the pot! I raised to $5, hoping to get two callers but I was quite happy that the LAG decided to stick around for the flop. With an SPR of about 1, I was committed to this pot no matter what happened on flop.)

Flop: Q♣ A♥ A♣ ($11.5, 2 players)
Hero bets $5, LAG raises to $10, Hero raises all-in $11.67, LAG calls.

(Normally I'd slowplay such a strong hand but my stack was so small that I doubt the LAG would have given much thought to folding. I find that playing the short-stack in a no-limit hold'em cash game seems to be an invitation to my opponents to try and stack me.

When the Villain raised my bet, we were both committed to the pot and I simply raised my remaining $1.67.)

Turn: T♥ ($34.84, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $34.84)

River: K♠ ($34.84, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $34.84)

Results (in white):

Final pot: $34.84

Hero shows Qs Qd
LAG shows As 7s

I've got to think that the LAG knew he was behind when I pushed behind his raise on the flop; however, he can't fold for $1.67 more. He got lucky in his A9 hand above and I caught a dream flop with my Pocket Queens. The moral of the story is that playing ace-rag from early position, even in 6-max no-limit, can be a tricky proposition - especially when facing a raise or re-raise from a tight-player who has position on you.

In this last hand, the FISH at the table decided to get in on the action.

InterPoker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
6 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

UTG: $51.21
UTG+1: $49.15
CO: $142.17
Button: $50.70
SB: $34.88
Hero: $30.14

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is BB with 8♣ Q♦

4 folds, SB calls, Hero checks.

(I love seeing a free flop in a blind vs. blind situation. I knew the SB didn't have anything and I'd have position on him for the rest of the hand. Even if I completely missed the flop, a pot-sized flop bet would probably win me the pot.)

Flop: 3♦ 8♠ Q♣ ($1, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

(I flopped a monster but I decided to hold off on betting. On a previous hand, I'm checked the flop in position and bet the turn when checked to a second time. The FISH had then check-raised me and forced me to fold my hand. My plan for this hand was to follow that same betting pattern of check-check/check-bet-raise. This time, however, I was planning to 3-bet the turn instead of folding.)

Turn: T♣ ($1, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, SB raises to $6, Hero raises to $17, SB calls.

(Continuing with my plan and hoping the ten on the turn or possible flush draw had conected with the FISH's hand, I overbet the pot. As before, the FISH raised and I re-popped him in the hopes of getting all the money in. Instead, the FISH simply called forcing me to wait until the river to give this pot my final push.)

River: 4♥ ($35, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero is all-in $15.64, SB calls.

(Although I didn't know whether the FISH was on a busted draw or whether he held a monster hand, I was committed to my hand. I figured that the FISH would just as soon call a large bet as he would a small bet so I jammed. The FISH called so quickly that I was a little worried that I'd be shown QT, J9, or a set.)

Results (in white):

Final pot: $66.28
Hero shows 8c Qd
SB shows Ah Ad

How many times have you heard that slow-playing Aces pre-flop is silly? Although the SB would have only won my 50 cent blind had he raise pre-flop, he could have saved himself from losing $30. Still, I like the way he played this hand...

--

The next couple hands are from last night's session at Titan Poker.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($99.00)
SB Hero ($53.65)
BB Villain ($30.49)
UTG ($100.00)
UTG+1 ($72.40)
CO ($102.20)

Preflop: Hero is in the SB with 9 Q
4 folds, Hero raises to 3.00, Villain raises to 6.00, 1 fold

(After sitting down at my first table of the evening, everyone folded to me in the small blind on just my second hand. Even though I knew nothing about the big blind, I figured that my hand deserved a raise. Unfortunately, the big blind liked his hand even more and pushed me off my hand. Oh well...)

Whenever someone plays back at me like this, I start to watch them closely. Over the next fifteen minutes, I watched the Villain defend his big blind at least 80% of the time. I don't really care about defending my big blind all that much in no-limit hold'em but there are others who view a blind steal as a personal affront.

I also noticed that the Villain seemed to pride himself on being tricky and outsmarting others at the table. He'd shown down some big bluffs and seemed to be having a little too much fun pushing others around. It was only a matter of time before knocked the Villain down a peg.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($111.78)
SB Hero ($50.65)
BB Villain ($34.86)
UTG ($97.50)
UTG+1 ($69.40)

Preflop: Hero is in the SB with T K
3 folds, Hero raises to 3.00, Villain raises to 5.00, Hero raises to 12.00, Villain calls 9.50.

(I was pretty sure that the Villain would re-raise me if I tried to "steal" his blind. My plan was simply to 3-bet the Villain pre-flop and have him fold after being called out. When the Villain called my re-raise, I could only hope for a good flop.)

Flop (31.00) A 4 5
Hero moves all-in for 35.15, 1 fold

(With an Ace on the flop, I saw my chance. I didn't want to do anything fancy. If I'd gotten greedy and tried for the check-raise, the Villain may have felt more tied to the pot and called with a variety of hands that beat my KT. In the end, I decided to open-jam the flop. Luckily, the Villain's brave facade crumbled before the might of my $35 bet.)

This last hand seemed to deflate the Villain and he busted out a few hands later. Although I don't make plays like this very often, it's always nice to find the right opponent and right situation to try out a move or two.

--

It's the weekend and I'll be starting it off right! Tonight, I'll be doing a little post-birthday drinking and gambling! Wish me luck!

I'll be back on Monday with more hands and more poker-y goodness. Until then, why not enter yourself in the contest I'm running. Come on! Free poker analysis software! What else do you want?

Keep reading "Session Review #13: It's all in the flop"

The Presents Keep Comin'

A couple days ago, InterPoker sent me an e-mail informing me that they'd placed $10 into my account as a birthday present. Pretty sweet of them considering that I haven't had the opportunity to play at InterPoker ever since Neteller pulled out of the online gaming industry. In any case, I figured I could take my $10 to a 6-max $25 NL table and try to run it up to a respectable amount then cash out. And that's when I remembered that I'd also received an e-mail from InterCasino...

In that e-mail, InterCasino offered to add $20 to my real money account if I wagered as little as a penny on any of InterCasino's table games or slots. So I took the free $10 that InterPoker had given me and spent $0.01 on a single spin of the Spider-Man slot machine. I then e-mailed InterCasino to let them know that I'd fulfilled my end of the bargain and that the ball was now in their court.

Last night, I received notice that InterCasino had kept up their word (not that I had any doubts, mind you) and deposited $20 into my account. I then opened up InterPoker and went to sit down at a $50 NL table. I figured that a 60 BB buy-in would be enough to get me started. Unfortunately, the $10 that I'd used over at InterCasino to get the $20 bonus was unavailable to me. I e-mailed InterCasino support once again to find out why my $10 was being held hostage and then got down to playing some poker.

With only $20 available and with no $100 NL tables running, I bought in for 40 BB at a 6-max $50 no-limit hold'em table. As I waited to post, I watched the table and quickly spotted the two seats that would undoubtedly make or break me. There was a LAG with $150 in chips sitting three spots to my left and a loose-passive player sitting to my direct right. Although position is not as important when playing short-stack poker, I liked the fact that I had pretty good position on both these players.

I knew I'd have to wait for a hand before I could really play. With only $20 in my stack, I couldn't really play any of the suited connectors or other speculative hands and expect to meet with any real success. I was looking for either two big cards or a pair.

I'll wait until tomorrow to discuss the three important hands that played out at the table. For the time being, here's a quick overview of what happened:

• I lose about $1 when I split the pot with TT against the LAG's A9.


• I double up to just over $30 when I crush the LAG's A7 with my QQ.


• I double up again when my Q8 crushes the fish's slowplayed AA.

Like any good "rat-holer", I left the table up $40. With a whopping $61.18 in my InterPoker account, I figured that I was happy to call it a night and requested a cash out via cheque. As I was shutting down the laptop, I noticed that InterCasino had sent me another e-mail. They told me that my $10 was not trapped at InterCasino and that I needed only wager another $0.01 on any casino game and they would give me another $20 bonus (redeemable only at the casino only, it seems). So I took another spin on the Spider-Man slot machine and then tried to access my remaining $9.98 from InterPoker.

Unfortunately, my $9.98 was still completely inaccessible. I guess InterCasino and I differ on what I meant when I said "trapped". So I did what any gambler would do: I took my money to the blackjack tables and started gambling. I played a couple hands at $2 a bet and lost both. I then figured what the hell and bet $5 on my next hand and won. I did the same again with $10 and doubled up again. At that point, my InterCasino account was sitting at $40 and, lo and behold, I could now pull $20 of my casino roll over to InterPoker.

In the end, here's where I stood at the end of the night:

• InterCasino: $20


• InterPoker: $20


• Cashed Out: $61.18

Not too bad for 30 minutes work using only a free $10 birthday bonus!

I'll probably play at Titan Poker tonight since I'd like to continue playing $100 NL. However, I'll probably visit InterPoker on Friday night for some drunken short-stack poker and reckless micro-stakes blackjack! Bonus money is so liberating!

I'll be back tomorrow with a session review of the three hands I played at the $50 NL tables.

See ya!

--

PS: Only 20 days left to enter yourself for into the free draw for one of three retail copies of Poker Academy Prospector. Seriously - this is a free full version of some great software that comes with no-strings-attached! Don't miss out!

Keep reading "The Presents Keep Comin'"

Book Worm

I haven't had much of a chance to play any poker since my "monster" one hour session on Saturday. I was hoping to play a little poker on my birthday; however, I thought that a little poker might mean more than 15 minutes of hurried poker while my youngest son whined and cried. The poker bug has now taken over once again and I'm eagerly looking forward to my next session. In the meantime, I've been doing my best to work on my game away from the tables.

Your average B & M poker player would probably make fun of me for spending so much time reading poker books. Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume 1 is currently being re-read for the fifth time. I felt it necessary to break out the big guns after finishing off Chris Moneymaker's book, aptly name Moneymaker, for a second time. When I first read the book, I felt that Chris Moneymaker's thoughts about gambling and poker showed a certain amount of immaturity, naivety, and just plain ignorance. In his defense, Chris did win the 2003 Main Event so I may simply be jealous.

Still, Moneymaker's reasoning while describing hands seem a little flawed at times. Every time Chris found himself in a big pot, he needed a lot of luck to pull himself out of the fire due to his comically faulty thought process. Here's a example of Chris's reasoning:

1. Geez, the player sitting under-the-gun doesn't play many hands. Oh wait, he's raising! I'll call with my J9 on the button and see what happens.
2. Okay, the flop's showing A K 9 and UTG is betting into me. I can't see what he could possibly have here so I'll call.
3. Turn's a 5. Oh man, UTG is betting again! I'm gonna raise him and push him off his hand. He's tight so he'll fold. Shit! He called and he's showing AK! Well, I'm gonna have to get lucky here!
4. River's a 9! I win! I'll high-five everyone and mock the tight player to put him on tilt.
5. I really think I could win this tournament even though I'm a nothing accountant with nothing but a stack of bills to his name and wife at home with a baby that we can't afford! Oh, and I only paid $40 for my seat to the big one!

The book is a quick read and quite entertaining for the "train-wreck" qualities of Moneymaker's life. It's always nice to read about a degenerate gambler who gets lucky and earns enough money to get his bail his family out of debt. Of course, the debt was almost solely incurred by Moneymaker and his penchant for sports betting.

It's a shame that Moneymaker chose to blow $25,000 at a strip club immediately after winning the Main Event instead of calling his wife. Moneymaker's wife later divorced him and I'm not surprised in the least: when you're married, it's probably best not to spend $25,000 on strippers and booze. But hey - I'm just an average family man trying to get through life without causing any waves.

Besides reading about poker, I've started re-watching Wes's poker videos that he put out last year (see here and here). I really enjoy watching him play, though I do wonder if Wes would consider me a "rat-holing piece of shit" for only buying in short for 50 big blinds whenever I sit down at the table. Probably. But I'm not about to buy in for a full stack and let better players push me off hand after hand after they realize that I'm not comfortable losing a lot of money on any given hand.

I've also been thinking about posting my thoughts on what it means to play winning poker. It's something I've been thinking about lately, but I'm still not sure how I'm going to get my point across. We'll see if I can figure things out and put something up.

In any case, that's all I've got today. Hopefully I'll log a bit of time online tonight and keep up my semi-hot streak. If I win, I'll stick with poker. And if I lose, then it's game time! That's what I call a win-win scenario!

And speaking of winning, don't forget to enter yourself into my Poker Academy Prospector contest. It's free to enter and you could win yourself a nice piece of software! Check out the details here! Good luck!

Keep reading "Book Worm"

Win your own copy of Poker Academy Prospector!

***Click here for contest details!***

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When I first launched the software, I had Poker Academy Prospector load up all the hand histories I had stored in a single directory on my computer. Within seconds, Prospector had loaded all the ring game and tournament hand histories that I had saved in the past year from my time at Party Poker, PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker. For what it's worth, Prospector also supports Tribeca and Ultimate Bet too!

With my hands loaded into Prospector's database, I was able to review every single hand of every single session that I'd played in the past year for both my tournament play and my ring game play. I was able to see every conceivable stat for each and every hand that I'd played as well as my overall stats across all my sessions. I could replay every single hand in a replay window, allowing me to better visualize what had happened over the course of my sessions and easily pinpoint where things had gone well and where things seemed to have tanked. I was also able to see how long my sessions had lasted and my win/loss amounts - invaluable for proper bankroll accounting.

My favourite feature of Poker Academy Prospector is the ability to run reports and print out graphs showing how well I'm performing (or how poorly I'm under-performing) at the tables. If you're serious about poker, you know how important it can be to monitor your win rates. Prospector allows you to quickly ascertain how well you're padding your bankroll and allows you to quickly identify the situations or the hands that are costing you money.

Even though I spend most of my time playing at Titan Poker (the iPoker network is currently unsupported), I was able to review my recent Party Poker sessions. I'm a real stats junkie and I loved the amount of detail that Poker Academy Prospector was able to give me about my play, my opponents' play, and my sessions' win/loss ratios.

If you're looking to improve your poker, why not give Poker Academy Prospector a try? You can download a free trial right here: http://www.poker-academy.com/hand-history/!

--

To show how much faith I place in the Poker Academy Prospector product, I'm running a little contest for all of my fellow poker bloggers.

Here's how the contest will work:

1. The contest will run until February 14, 2008.
2. Make a post on your blog and include a link to this page (http://klopzi.blogspot.com/2008/01/win-your-own-copy-of-poker-academy.html). I'd like to spread the word about this excellent product!
3. Leave a comment below that includes the URL of the post you made.
4. For each post you make, I'll enter your name into the draw.
5. You may make as many posts as you like; however, I'll only count valid and readable posts (ie. a post containing only a couple words and a link will not be counted). Of course, saying nice things about me and my blog will greatly increase a post's validity in my eyes...
6. On Valentine's Day, I will randomly draw three different bloggers' names from my virtual hat. Each of these randomly selected bloggers will receive their very own full-retail copies of Poker Academy Prospector!

I also invite anyone who's used the Poker Academy Prospector software to leave a comment.

Good luck to all who participate! For the rest, get out there and buy yourself a copy of this invaluable poker analysis tool!

Keep reading "Win your own copy of Poker Academy Prospector!"

Distinguished or Just Plain Old?

According to the radio this morning, psychologists have declared January 21st, 2008 to be the most depressing day of the year. Short day, long night, frigid temperatures outside, and Christmas expenditures all make today the worst day of the year for most people.

It also happens to be my birthday...

I had a busy weekend, filled with cleaning, more cleaning, baby-sitting and a bit of the whole Sunday worship thing. I also ate my own body weight in spinach dip and snack mix too, which has probably not helped my waist-line. And, wonder of wonders, I managed to put in a couple hours at Titan Poker as well.

After reading Scott's recent post, it seems silly that I still look on poker as an honest-to-goodness way to generate income. But you know what? I like poker. Sure, there are times when I hate it...but I'm of the forgive and forget school of thought. Even with all the lows that poker has offered me over the past two years, I still feel that the highs have made it all worth while.

When I put in a couple hours on Saturday, I was first treated to the highs of pulling just over half a buy-in at the $100 NL tables. Although I failed to play any big pots, I did manage to take down a $50 pot by virtue of my A J against another player's overplayed A 6.

Unfortunately, I gave it all back (and then some) a bit later when the following hand occurred:

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw showdown

Button Hero ($47.00)
SB ($95.00)
BB ($112.00)
UTG ($254.00)
UTG+1 ($52.00)
CO Villain ($98.00)

Preflop: Hero is in the Button with Q Q
2 folds, Villain calls 1.00, Hero raises to 5.00, 1 fold, BB calls 5.00, Villain calls 4.00

(The Villain in this hand is a typical calling station. Nice and loose pre-flop and willing to call off large post-flop bets on a wing and a prayer. With the BB joining in the festivities, my stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) for this hand is 3. I'm planning to stack off as long there is no ace or king on the flop.)

Flop (15.50) 8 9 2
BB checks, Villain checks, Hero bets 12.00, 1 fold, Villain calls 12.00.

(The flop is perfect for my hand, so I'm committed. The flop is pretty safe: I'm now looking to build a big pot that will allow me to get all the money in on the turn or river. When the BB folds and the Villain calls my near pot-sized bet, I'm not surprised and start licking my chops. )

Turn (39.50) Q
Villain checks, Hero bets 15.00, Villain raises all-in for 81.00, Hero calls 15.00.

(When I hit my set on the turn, I was just hoping that the Villain would be willing to get all the money into the pot. I gave a slight pause before betting $15, hoping to induce a call. I probably could have pushed all-in but I was greedy and wanted the call. I'd still be offering the Villain 6:1 on his money if he called the turn bet and had to call another $15 on the river.

When the Villain instantly re-raised all-in, I called quickly. I was hoping to see a set or two-pair; instead, I saw...)

Hero shows Q Q
Villain shows J T

(Damn...Well, I had ten outs to fill up on the river and take a good chunk out of the Villain's stack.)

River (101.00) 3

(Damn...)

I played the hand well, executed my script according to plan, and ran into a monster hand. These things happen and I'll no doubt recoup my losses at some point. All told, I finished my session on Saturday down about $24 which is not too bad. One interesting note: pocket Queens are now my biggest loser in terms of money lost. It seems that my opponents like to hit monster draws on the turn when I'm holding the Hilton Sisters.

Although I'd normally celebrate my birthday with some cake, beer, and poker, things are a little different with kids. My plans include giving the kids a bath, ordering chinese food, watching TV with my wife, and then falling asleep...

...ok, I may squeeze in a short session at Titan if I'm not too tired after the festivities...

Keep reading "Distinguished or Just Plain Old?"

An Uphill Battle

I made two New Year's resolutions this year. First, I wanted to play more poker than I did in 2007. Ultimately, I want to be playing at least $200 NL by year's end. The second resolution involved weighing myself on a daily basis and allowing my shame to be a strong catalyst to a good bit of weight loss.

Poker is coming along nicely. I've been playing - just not as much as I'd hoped. It's still early in the year, so there's plenty of time to make up for some missed hands. I mentioned yesterday that I've laid out a plan of attack for moving up the ladder to increasingly higher buy-in games.

Unlike my previous attempts to move up, I've decided to really test myself this year and take a few more calculated risks with my bankroll. In the past, I played it too safe. At one point, my bankroll was fast approaching $10K and I was still playing the $10 NL tables. I realize that it takes time to be able to play with the big boys and that experience is a key to success, but I also believe that "you'll never know until you try".

My bankroll currently sits at around $2,000. Considering that I had only $1000 last July after cashing out, I think I've done pretty well given my limited playing time. I don't know of many business investments that offer a 100% ROI in less than 6 months!

The table below outlines a reasonable advancement schedule for moving up in stakes. Here are the rules and assumptions that I made while building the chart below:

• I'll play only two tables at time.
• I'll see 60 hands per hour at a 6-max NL table.
• My desire to play poker will increase as I move up in stakes, resulting in more hands played per week.
• My win rate will decrease as I move up in limits.
• My rakeback percentage is set based on my current deals with RakeTheRake.
• The numbers below are completely theoretical. I'm well aware that the games get much more difficult as the stakes increase;, so there's no need to piss in Corn Flakes and tell me that I'm in for a shock when I first sit at a $400 NL or $600 NL table.

Stakes	Bankroll Req'd	$$/hour (incl. rakeback)	Hours/Week	Expected Start Date
100 NL	$1500	$13	5	December 2007
200 NL	$3200	$20	7	May 2008
400 NL	$6400	$29	7	November 2008
600 NL	$9600	$34	10	March 2009
1000 NL	$16000	$40	10	July 2009

Don't you love the way that basic math makes everything look so easy? I wonder how long I'll be able to stay on target. If I was playing $400 NL by the end of this year and making good progress to towards playing $600 NL, I'd be pretty damned impressed. That's the great thing about setting goals for yourself: they can be as lofty or as unrealistic as you like!

As for my second New Year's resolution, I'm sad to say that the following video best describes my current eating habits:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Keep reading "An Uphill Battle"

Session Review #12: Klopzi versus The Sneaky Bastard

When you play as few hands of poker as I do, there are upsides and downsides to the short sessions. If things go well and I get lucky at the tables, my winning streaks can last a month or two before I start losing again. On the flip-side, a losing streak can seem interminably long if it lasts any longer than 1000 hands (typically one month or more of poker for me).

Well, I've been winning so I'm happy. I've got some hands from my last session: whaddya say we take a look?

No matter the buy-in, no matter the limit, there are always people out there who derive ridiculous amounts of pleasure from outsmarting and outplaying their competition at the tables. I've seen players go out of their way to tackle the toughest players at the table rather than sit back and pick off the weaker players. Honestly, I don't get it. When I play poker, I play to make money. That's not to say that I don't mind the times when I get up on a player who's been running over the table...

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw showdown

Button ($252.90)
SB ($124.55)
BB Hero ($48.50)
UTG Villain ($113.20)
UTG+1 ($204.50)

Preflop: Hero is in the BB with A A
Villain raises to 3.50, 1 fold, Button calls 3.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to 9.00, Villain calls 6.50, 1 fold.

(The Villain in this hand has been running the show for a while. We've all played with his type before: floats quite a bit, makes tricky plays, loves suited connectors and tries to bust players who overplay their "top pair" hands.

I opted for a small re-raise this time round because I was hoping to have both the Villain and Button call my pre-flop raise. Why? Well, AA plays well against one or two opponents, especially when I can get a nice low stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) .

Even though the Button eventually folded after mulling it over for a while, a pre-flop pot-size of $24 gave me a nice SPR of less than 2. I was prepared to commit my entire stack regardless of the flop, hence taking away any positional and skill-based advantages held by the tricky Villain in the UTG seat.)

Flop (24.00) A T 8
Hero bets 15.00, Villain calls 15.00.

(Flush draw? Whatever. I wasn't going to fold my hand given the enormous pot size compared to the effective remaining stack sizes. Although I could have bet pot, I wanted to keep the Villain in the hand. I figured that a $15 bet might encourage the Villain to try and raise me off my hand: no such luck. I decided that I'd push on the turn regardless of the next card that hit the board, though I was really hoping for a non-heart.)

Turn (54.00) 7
Hero moves all-in for 23.50, Villain calls 23.50.

Hero shows A A
Villain shows 7 8

(Villain called quickly and rightly so getting better than 3:1 odds ($23.50 to win $73.50). I hoped that he didn't have the flopped flush and expected to see AT, A8, a set, or possibly a pair and flush draw. When the Villain showed his hand, I was a little surprised that he'd called my re-raise pre-flop with his hand. )

River (101.00) 2

(River is a blank! Klopzi: 1, Sneak Bastard: 0)

Hero wins 101.00 with Three of a kind, Ace's

(The Villain was a victim of his own tricky play here. I'm not sure what possessed him to make the call on the flop. I guess you could argue that he knew he'd get my stack if he hit his flush on the turn, but I don't see how the Villain knows that I wasn't going to show him the K, Q, or the J as part of my hand.

I believe that committing to the pot with only bottom pair and a terrible one-card flush draw is losing poker. I'll stop complaining, however, since I won the hand after getting my opponent to commit the rest of his effective stack drawing to eight outs.)

Not every player tries to play a tricky-style of game. At one the tables that I was playing during this session, I found myself sitting to the immediate right of a fishy player. I'd noticed that he'd defend his big blind or button against most steal attempts and that he'd fold on the flop unless he caught a card. Perfect...

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw showdown

Button ($121.32)
SB ($106.10)
BB Hero ($54.80)
UTG Villain ($176.80)
UTG+1 ($131.05)
CO ($100.00)

Preflop: Hero is in the BB with 7 Q
Villain calls 1.00, 3 folds, Hero checks.

(Villain was a loose player but I'd never seen him limp under-the-gun. I decided to simply check my option and make a bet on the flop regardless of the flop.)

Flop (2.50) Q 6 8
Hero bets 2.00, Villain calls 2.00.

(I hit top pair so I was probably ahead. Although I wasn't willing to play a huge pot here, there's no harm in putting out a pot-sized bet in the hopes of taking the hand down or causing the Villain to pay too much for a draw. When Villain called, I put him on a flush draw or a pair.)

Turn (6.50) 8
Hero checks, Villain checks.

(When the turn paired the board, I decided to check to the Villain and let him define his hand. If he bet, I could lay down my pair of queens knowing that the Villain had trips: he just wasn't aggressive enough to warrant any other hand. If he checked, I figured I could bet the river if the flush draw missed.

Please note that had I been playing with a full-stack, I might have bet the turn without fear of committing too many of my chips with a marginal hand. If the Villain then raised my turn bet, I could have safely folded my hand.)

River (6.50) 8
Hero bets 3.00, Villain calls 3.00

(Full house! I was sure that the Villain did not have quad eights and if he was drawing to the flush, he missed. If I checked in this spot, the Villain would have checked behind with most hands. Since I want a little value for my hand, I opted for the half-pot sized bet on the river and expected to get shown a queen, a six, or even an ace or king by the Villain.)

Villain shows 9 6
Hero shows 7 Q

Hero wins 12.50 with A fullhouse, Eight's and Queen's

(I scored a decent win with a crappy hand so I was happy. More importantly, I liked the fact that I made a value bet on the end in a situation where I'd normally check without thinking the hand through and figuring out how to extract a little money from my opponent.)

In this next hand, the Villain is a little another slightly-loose, slightly-tricky player. I'd been playing air tight for the last few orbits so I figured that I might be able to steal a pot if I played my cards right.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw showdown

Button ($117.20)
SB ($144.64)
BB Hero ($50.00)
UTG ($103.00)
UTG+1 ($124.45)

Preflop: Hero is in the BB with A 4
2 folds, Button calls 1.00, 1 fold, Hero checks.

(I wasn't about to raise ace-rag against a tricky player while out of position. There were too many ways for the Villain to punish me if the flop didn't come down just right.)

Flop (2.50) 6 6 7
Hero checks, Button checks.

(Given my opponent's tricky nature and given the paired board, I decided to play my hand as if I'd flopped trips. Most players will incorrectly check trips in this spot so I decided to do the same after an ever-so-slight pause.)

Turn (2.50) J
Hero bets 1.50, Button calls 1.50.

(I made a small bluff at the pot on the turn, hoping that the Villain would think that I was looking for a call with my trip sixes. When the Villain called the bet instantly, I wondered if I he might have a flush draw and had simply checked through on the flop in the hopes of hitting his hand cheaply.)

River (5.50) 4
Hero bets 3.00, 1 fold

(Normally I'd refrain from betting on the river in this spot since a call would usually mean that my bottom pair was well behind. However, in this case I'd represented trips, albeit in weak-tight fashion, throughout the hand and could reasonably expect the Villain to some hands that would beat me if given a showdown opportunity.

Most importantly, I was afraid that a check on my part might induce a large bet on the part of the Villain: I wasn't willing to call off a large bet on the river with only bottom pair.)

I'm enjoying playing short-stack poker because it really simplifies so many of the decisions that I need to make while playing no-limit hold'em. I also appreciate the fact that short-stack poker helps me overcome the disparity in skill level between me and my opponents. As this gap closes and once I've managed to pad my bankroll a little bit further, I'll start buying in full and opening up my game to take advantage of the tight players (by stealing more pots) as well as the loose players (by getting them to call my large over-bets when I'm holding the nuts).

I've also set up a schedule for upping my limits that I feel offers me a far better chance of hitting the $200 NL tables and beyond before the year is up. Of course, I'll need to back up my plans with some solid play and good-sized wins at my current stakes. We'll see how things turn out, I guess.

I'll probably stick with video games tonight and hit up the cash game tables tomorrow night. The tables really loosen up quite a bit on weekends when the drunks and crazies come online to play.

Have a good one!

Keep reading "Session Review #12: Klopzi versus The Sneaky Bastard"

A moment of your time...

I had a pretty good session last night at Titan Poker. I played a pretty tight game and was rewarded by getting no action with my Pocket Aces, Pocket Kings, Pocket Queens, and Big Slick.

Actually, I'm exaggerating a little bit. After moving to a new table midway through my session, I managed to stack a solid player with my rockets when he decided to get a little frisky with me at the wrong time.

I'm a bit pressed for time tonight so I can't write much more. As much as I'd like to post some hands from last night's session, fatherly duties call and I have no choice but to answer.

I'll be back tomorrow with some honest-to-goodness poker talk.

--

Oh! One last thing: I've added a few new blogs (in the sense that they're new to me, not new to the rest of the blogging community) to my blogroll:

• Surely Poker Gnome
• Dear Poker Diary
• Drawing Dead
• Hard-Boiled Poker

Why not go give them a visit tonight?

Keep reading "A moment of your time..."

Setting My Sights

No poker for me last night. Instead, I chose to play a bit of Mass Effect after having a long day at work. I am going to play tonight at Titan Poker's $100 NL tables while watching some TV with my wife. Of course, all plans are subsequent to change depending on the volatile mood swings of my youngest son.

Even though I've been continuing to play video games while getting back into poker, I find the juggling act to be working out better than expected. I keep my focus on poker by constantly reading and re-reading the books that make up my ever-growing library of poker textbooks, poker player biographies, and poker fiction. Reading about Jay Greenspan's cross-country adventures in Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Players can make any poker player long for a little action, as does Holden's Big Deal and Alavarez's The Biggest Game in Town. Right now, I'm just finishing up Doyle's Poker Wisdom of a Champion. This is my second time reading the book and I enjoy Doyle's stories and anecdotes, though I'll admit that any discussion of strategy is either too out-dated or simplistic to be useful or too advanced to apply to the micro-limit donkey poker that I play regularly; however, I never intended to use the book as a textbook on poker theory. It's a fun read and that's all that matters to me.

I've also started eyeing a new laptop for myself. I'd like to pick up a poker machine dedicated solely to the pursuit of making more money via tons of online gambling and poker. The cheapest notebook computer that I've found to include all that I "need" will cost me around $1500 (tax included):

PROCESSOR:	AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-58 (1.9GHz/1MB)
OPERATING SYSTEM:	Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition, English
SYSTEM COLOUR:	Expresso Brown Color with Microsatin Finish
LCD DISPLAY:	High Resolution Glossy Widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200)
MEMORY:	2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
HARD DRIVE:	160G 7200RPM SATA HDD
GRAPHICS CARD:	ATI RADEON® Xpress1270 HyperMemory (64MB local frame buffer)
OPTICAL DRIVE:	8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

I can't seem to give up on wanting a WUXGA screen running at a 1920 x 1200 resolution and only the higher-end machines seem to carry LCD screens of this resolution. It'd be a lot cheaper to simply start playing poker using a desktop machine with a nice 22" monitor, but I've grown accustomed to being able to play poker anywhere. So I'll keep saving up for my "dream" laptop computer; in the meantime, I'll keep hoping that prices will drop.

I've actually started looking ahead to the $200 NL and $400 NL tables. Sure, I'm at least a year away from $200 NL and a couple years away from $400 NL barring a sudden surge in free time and poker skill. But I've thought about it. And I've thought about what type of setup that I'd need to properly compete at these higher limits. As much as I like sitting beside my wife and playing poker, I might do much better if I were to set up an office dedicated solely to poker if and when the time comes.

Perhaps I could go with StoxTrader's set-up (see below) and go with a three monitor set-up (two 21" monitors flanking a 30" widescreen monitor)? That would be mighty sweet but I'd have to prove to my wife that the time I spent playing poker locked away in my "office" was well and truly worth it. I'm thinking that 4 PTBB/100 at 200-300 hands per hour might do the trick...

Anyway, I'm getting way ahead of myself. Tonight, I'll be playing $100 NL on my laptop in my bedroom with my wife at my side. I don't know what will happen tomorrow or the day after but I'm looking forward to the journey.

Keep reading "Setting My Sights"

A Little ABC Poker

I played my shortest session of no-limit hold'em this past Saturday afternoon: 12 minutes. In a 24 hour day, I managed to obtain less than one-quarter hour to myself for the express purpose of gambling online. It was a good session that saw me up about $3.50 in just 24 hands which is phenomenally good if we look only at my win rate of 6 PTBB/100!

For today's post, I wanted to look at some hands that I played one night last week. It was a good session (financially) and I think I played pretty well despite getting lucky a few times. I apologize if these hands are not extremely fascinating: I don't play for big bucks just yet and many of the short-stack plays that I make are pretty standard. But hey, that's poker: hours of boredom followed by a raise on the button followed by a quick take-down of a small pot by virtue of a perfectly-standard c-bet bluff on the flop...

This session took place at Titan Poker, as do most of my sessions nowadays. Rakeback, bonuses, and lots of games have a way of keeping me coming back for more! Let's get to it, shall we? Hopefully we'll both learn a little something from these hands.

In this first hand, the Villain makes a loose call late in the hand in a spot where I'd not even consider making a "big call". It's nice to have outs but far nicer to have chips.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($139.00)
SB ($102.60)
BB ($26.35)
UTG ($148.98)
UTG+1 Villain ($117.25)
CO Hero ($48.50)

Preflop: Hero is in the CO with K K
1 fold, Villain calls 1.00, Hero raises to 5.00, 3 folds, Villain calls 4.00.

(Villain is pretty loose, having limped into a number of pots. I'd seen him make a few loose calls post-flop so I figured that a raise to $5 would make my post-flop decision pretty simple: commit if I held an overpair on the flop.)

Flop (11.50) T 2 Q
Villain checks, Hero bets 10.00, Villain calls 10.00.

(Good - possible flush and straight draws! I find that I get more action on draw heavy flops. I should be able to get action from my opponent if I make a big bet. I was hoping for the Villain to check-raise all-in with a draw but it didn't happen.)

Turn (31.50) 9
Villain checks, Hero moves all-in for 33.50, Villain calls 33.50.

(With another card coming on the turn that could help make my opponent a straight on the river, I feel that I should just push my money in while I'm probably still ahead in the hand. My money is barely in the pot before my opponent calls my bet. Villain shows JJ and I can only pray that the river does not bring an 8...)

River (98.50) 7

(Bingo!)

Hero shows K K
Villain shows J J

Hero wins 98.50 with One pair, King

(A pretty loose call on the turn with only second pair and an open-ended straight draw. It would have been maddening had my opponent hit on the river but these are the types of opponents that I need if I want to make money playing poker. I wouldn't have made that call on the turn myself but I'm happy that my opponent did just that. I wonder what type of hand he put me on before calling off so many chips?)

Playing short-stack no-limit hold'em is all about committing all your chips when you feel that you're ahead in the hand and when the pot is large enough to warrant such action. Of course, it also helps to get incredibly lucky...

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($60.27)
SB Hero ($56.45)
BB McLAG ($84.33)
UTG Tighty ($176.38)
UTG+1 ($100.00)
CO ($325.48)

Preflop: Hero is in the SB with A K
UTG calls 1.00, 2 folds, Hero raises to 6.00, McLAG calls 5.50, UTG calls 5.50.

(I've just finished winning a couple hands in the past few orbits where I've managed to take down the hands uncontested by making some run-of-the-mill c-bets. My raise to $6 is larger than normal because the BB in this hand is pretty loose and I don't want to play a three-way pot out of position. My second goal with they $6 raise is to get the pre-flop pot large enough to make my commitment decision after the flop an easy one. If Tighty (UTG) calls off the extra $5, the stack-to-pot ratio for this hand would be around 4, which is perfect for a hand like AK.)

Flop (19.50) 7 6 6
Hero bets 14.00, 2 folds

(I'm not sure how the pot got so big pre-flop but I make my standard c-bet to force Tighty off his hand. As soon as I've finished clicking the bet button, I suddenly realize that I've made a huge mistake: I hadn't enough noticed that McLAG had slipped into the hand from the BB. I missed the flop, I made a large c-bet out of position into two players, and I failed to notice that a wild and crazy player was also in the pot and had position on me. Now that's good poker!

Luckily, both of my opponents folded and saved me from throwing away 20 BBs on a poorly played hand.)

Let's take a look at just one more hand today. In this next hand, I run into my most hated no-limit hold'em situation: the possible button float-steal.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button Villain ($127.90)
SB SB ($109.10)
BB ($155.83)
UTG ($114.20)
UTG+1 Hero ($58.00)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 3 A
1 fold, Hero raises to 4.00, Villain calls 4.00, SB calls 3.50, 1 fold.

(I'd been playing well on this table for the past half-hour and I felt that the time had come to loosen up a little and take advantage of my somewhat-tight table image.)

Flop (13.00) 7 Q 4
SB checks, Hero bets 8.00, Villain calls 8.00, 1 fold.

(I was contemplating not even making a c-bet here, given that the Villain was a tricky player. However, my tight image and the good flop gave me a little courage to fire-off a bet. When the Villain insta-called me, I knew I was done with the hand.)

Turn (29.00) 8
Hero checks, Button bets 10.00, 1 fold

(As soon as I check the turn, I know that the Villain is going to bet. Although it's quite possible that he had something, this sequence of betting always make me feel that the pot's been stolen from me. Making an early position raise with A3 was a pretty loose though somewhat reasonable given my table image (notice how I'm trying to justify my loss after having played an awful hand out of position). As for the c-bet on the flop, I'm terrible at knowing whether or not I made the right choice here. Playing out of position against tricky players is never a good thing.)

None of the other hands that I played over the course of my session were even remotely interesting. I guess I should be happy that many of the decisions I made that night were easy or automatic given the stack sizes. It's easy to make money playing poker when the cards fall just right and the betting makes it even easier to commit all your chips early.

I've got some more sessions to look over and I'll try and find some interesting hands to post. Maybe I should simply add a couple of zeros to the dollar amounts in order to make things appear more lively? I can't wait for the day when I'll be able to write about a sessions where I was up BMW or down a few mortgage payments.

Until that day, I'll do my best to keep things interesting...

Keep reading "A Little ABC Poker"

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Keep reading "Sponsored By: Gambling PhD"

So bored...

Sorry, no real post today. I'm currently sitting in a training session that I've been asked to endure. It's pretty boring but I'm getting paid, so I can't complain.

I managed to squeeze in a small session at Titan Poker yesterday. Twenty-seven minutes of $100 NL; $21 profit. That puts my win rate just shy of 4 BB/100, which is pretty typical for me. I'm still only 800 hands in at this limit but I'm happy with the results.

This weekend, the plan is to play a couple sessions and continue to work on my game. Even though many players seem to be giving up the game or going on hiatus, I'm going against the grain and starting to enjoy poker again.

Well, it looks like class is about to start up again so I'd better go.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back on Monday and I'll be talking poker!

Keep reading "So bored..."

Sick and Trying

Although I planned on playing poker last night, my job as a full-time father took precedence. With a number of nasty cold viruses out and about this time of year, it seems that a few have slipped by our defenses and infected each and every family member. Rather than hitting the felt, I helped my wife take care of our sick kids. And although I'd like to play poker tonight, the forecast is not looking so great...

Since I was so busy last night, I didn't even get a chance to do up any hands for a session review. Let me, however, provide you with a quick summary of my results since my first foray into the wilds of $100 NL:

• Party Poker: +$35
• Titan Poker: +$12
• Titan Poker: +$12
• Titan Poker: -$9
• Titan Poker: +$86
• Titan Poker: -$93

I've only played about 600 hands at $100 NL so far, so these results are pretty well meaningless. Still, I'm up and that's always good.

I'm going to do my best to squeeze a few hands in tonight. At the very least, I'll be back tomorrow with a review of my best $100 NL session to date.

Keep reading "Sick and Trying"

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A Slight Burning Sensation

With many poker bloggers claiming to have lost money last year, many of these same bloggers are showing a lack of interest in poker for the New Year. I've experienced poker apathy on many occasions and I feel for my fallen brethren. Although I have no doubt that many will bounce back, only time will tell to see if 2008 can bring poker back into the spotlight as an entertaining and profitable hobby.

As promised, I've been playing poker somewhat regularly. In fact, I even played yesterday when I was sick at home. And though I've proven time and time again that I can't play all that well when I'm feeling under-the-weather, I plowed through a short session that saw me losing a full buy-in at the $100 NL tables and almost cost me the use of my laptop.

Although I'll discuss yesterday's hands in full detail in an upcoming Session Review post, here is a quick summary of the hands that cost me some of my much-needed bankroll:

• I attempt to steal from the button with my K9s but the big blind defends. The big blind is a tight, solid player so I decide to keep the pot small by letting my opponent bet for me. A small turn and river bet sees me losing to my opponent's KJ.
• Against the very same tight opponent, I decide to push all-in with my AK when Tighty three-bets me from the SB. He shows KK and takes down the pot and I'm left to contemplate my error in judging my opponent's hand range after three-betting out of position.
• On another table, I get into a heads-up raised pot with my pocket nines. I decide to check-raise all-in on the flop when it comes J T 8. They say "think long, think wrong", which is exactly what my opponent did before calling off an additional $50 with only a straight draw (KQ). I hit my set on the river, he hits his straight, and my opponent takes my stack. Damn...

Honestly, most of the hands I played were pretty standard...other than the AK hand. I saw myself in a raise or fold situation but, upon further analysis, I realize that a call could have worked quite well. Given my tight opponent's nature, I could have easily stolen the pot on the flop given any number of possible three card combinations. Mind you, a steal won't work when my opponent is holding Cowboys but that's neither her nor there. I'm only looking at making the right plays regardless of the end result.

As for my laptop, it shut off unexpectedly shortly after losing the 99 vs. KQ hand above. I turned it back on and it shut itself off almost immediately. I can afford a new laptop for poker if needed, but I wasn't prepared to hand over half of my effective bankroll for another laptop without a fight.

I searched my mind for answers and came up with no easy solutions. It was then that my wife reminded me of the time my laptop had shut down quite unexpectedly after I'd inadvertently blocked my laptop's air exhaust vents. Like most computers, my laptop will shut down as soon as the CPU temperature reaches its breaking point - that's 65°C in my case.

I checked the vents on the bottom of the laptop and confirmed that the air exhausts hadn't been blocked while I was playing yesterday. However, I had set up my laptop to run in silent mode to avoid having to listen to the constant hum of the dual fans running at top speed.

Right before putting my oldest son to bed, I brought the laptop to the basement. Using a can of compressed air, I cleared all vents and ports of dust and made sure that both fans on the underside of the laptop were clean and clear of all debris. I then turned the laptop on and immediately set my laptop to run in "Max Performance" mode.

I can now say that my laptop is now running well once again. Sure, the fans are loud enough to wake my kids from their slumber but at least Daddy can make a little extra money on the side again. I'm glad that my wife was able to quickly diagnose the problem with my laptop; otherwise, I would have visited Best Buy after work tonight in order to buy a new and expensive notebook computer.

Although I'm really enjoying playing Mass Effect on my Xbox 360, I hope to get a little poker in tonight. I've got to work off the deficit that I incurred yesterday and there's only one way to do that: on the virtual felt.

I'll be back tomorrow with another session review. And for those of you out there burned out on poker and looking to give up, take some time away from the game and we'll hopefully see you back playing and blogging soon.

Keep reading "A Slight Burning Sensation"

Session Review #11: Titan Poker, $100 NL (6-max)

Now that I'm back playing poker, I've got some actual poker hands to discuss. I know that there are many of you out there who aren't that interested in poker right now; however, I feel it necessary to provide as much poker content as I can. The following session took place late last week as I was starting to ease myself into the $100 NL ring games.

When I first sit down to start a poker session, I'm looking for a couple things:

1. Weak opponents who'll double me up quickly.
2. A little luck, be it cards or a good flop, in order to take advantage of my weak opponents.

Try as I might, there are times when I'll find myself in the hole rather quickly. If my poor start is due to a mistake on my part, I take note of what I did wrong and move on. If I feel that I played correctly and that my opponent got lucky, I start playing close attention to my new nemesis and do all that I can to get even.

In this session, my nemesis made himself visible quite early. In this first hand, I only knew that my opponent liked to play fairly loose.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button Hero ($50.10)
SB ($27.00)
BB Villain ($115.77)
UTG ($100.95)
UTG+1 ($97.50)
CO ($140.80)

Preflop: Hero is on the Button with Q Q
3 folds, Hero raises to 5.00, 1 fold, Villain calls 4.00.

(I know that the Villain is loose and likes to defend his blind. Since I'm sitting on a $50 stack, I'm looking to set-up a good stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) for my big pair hand. In this case, a raise to $5 will make the pre-flop pot $10 if the Villain calls. If you've read Professional No-Limit Hold'em Volume 1, you'll know that this gives me an SPR of 4.5 which is just about perfect for the Sisters.)

Flop (10.50) 9 5 2
Villain checks, Hero bets 9.00, Villain calls 9.00.

(Great flop for me! I've got an overpair on a safe flop. I'm going to commit myself to this pot since the flop, my remaining stack size, and the Villain are all perfect for my hand. I'm happy to see my opponent call the pot-sized bet on the flop: a bigger pot means more money for me!)

Turn (28.50) T
Villain checks, Hero bets 25.00, Villain moves all-in for 101.77, Hero moves all-in for 11.10.

(In a heads-up pot at a 6-max table, having a flush draw come in is not all that scary. Usually, a good player may use a possible flush to make a strong bluff at the pot; however, I've already committed myself to this pot and as a result, I am completely unbluffable. Since I am committed to my hand and since I'd rather not give my opponent a free look at the river, my best bet is to try and get more money into the pot. When the Villain check-raises me all-in, I instantly call and hope for the best.)

River (166.37) A

Hero shows Q Q
Villain shows J K

Villain wins 166.37 with Flush (Hearts) with King high

(It sucks that I lost the hand but I think I played this one pretty well. I got my opponent to put a lot of money on the line pre-flop and on the flop and got unlucky that I came up against a flush. The Villain's flop call was a little loose but he got lucky and ended up taking my entire stack.)

After that last hand, I started watching the Villain more closely. After a few more orbits, I learned more about the Villain's game:

• He was very loose pre-flop.
• He liked to take stabs at the pot on all streets when shown weakness or passivity from his opponents.
• Although he liked to bet the river with nothing, he very rarely called river bets or raises.

After rebuying for another $50, I was ready to go up against the Villain yet again.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($92.50)
SB SB ($146.30)
BB Hero ($50.00)
UTG ($26.50)
UTG+1 Villain ($164.27)
CO ($99.45)

Preflop: Hero is in the BB with 3 J
1 fold, Villain calls 1.00, 2 folds, SB calls 0.50, Hero checks.

(I've got a garbage hand in the blinds and will be out of position against the typically-aggressive Villain in the UTG+1 spot. Since the Villain very rarely raised pre-flop, I can't really put him on a hand.)

Flop (3.00) 9 J 6
SB checks, Hero checks, Villain bets 1.00, 1 fold, Hero calls 1.00.

(I've got top pair here and I highly suspect that I'm good given the Villain's past showing. Although I could have tried for a check-raise on the flop, I choose to call. Why? I want to keep the pot small and I'd rather not tip off my hand strength to my opponent. I know that the Villain will continue to bet with nothing as long as I don't tip him off with any aggression on my part.)

Turn (5.00) 9
Hero checks, Villain bets 3.00, Hero calls 3.00.

(Although the turn pairs the board, I'm not about to put the Villain on a 9x hand. I'll just let him keep throwing his money at me and hope that the river leaves me with top pair.)

River (11.00) 4
Hero checks, Villain bets 9.00, Hero calls 9.00

(Good river card for me. I was contemplating betting the river until I remembered that the Villain would probably fold to an unexpected show of aggression on my part. Better to just check/call with my top pair, crappy kicker.)

Hero shows 3 J
Villain shows Q A

Hero wins 29.00 with Two pair, Jack's and Nine's with a Six for a kicker

(I played the hand like a fish and it paid off for me. I'm sure the Villain was a little pissed off at me for calling the whole way. Who calls a pot-sized bet on the river with only top pair and no kicker? Well, I guess I do...)

I could feel the Villain starting to steam a little. From a stack of just over $200, the Villain was now back down near $100. His luck was starting to run out and he was getting desperate.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button Hero ($67.95)
SB Villain ($105.67)
BB ($98.50)
UTG ($101.30)
UTG+1 ($177.85)

Preflop: Hero is on the Button with J T
2 folds, Hero raises to 3.00, Villain calls 2.50, 1 fold.

(Up to this point in the session, the Villain has really prevented me from playing too loosely from the button. However, JTs is a great hand to play first in from the button regardless of your opponent. I popped it up to $3 and the Villain insta-called.)

Flop (7.00) 2 T 5
Villain bets 1.00, Hero raises to 5.00, Villain calls 4.00.

(My SPR is around 8 in this hand which is not enough to commit with only top pair, even if my opponent is not a very strong player. When the Villain donk-bets into me, I need to take control of the hand by raising. By taking over as the aggressor, I'm pretty sure that the Villain will either fold outright or shut down and let me exert a little more control over the pot-size. I don't want a big pot and I plan on keeping it that way unless the turn improves my hand to trip tens or a top-two pair.)

Turn (17.00) 8
Villain checks, Hero checks.

(I know that there are two flush draws possible but I'd rather keep the pot at $17. A strong bet by me would commit me to this pot and I don't want to be committed given the current strength of my hand. What would I do if I bet $15 and my opponent check-raised me? I'd probably have to fold and I'd rather not waste my half-decent hand by trying to guess what hands my opponent would check-raise me with here on the turn. No - let's wait and see the river.)

River (17.00) T
Villain bets 7.00, Hero raises to 15.00, Villain calls 8.00

(The Villain bets out on the river after I've hit trips. The most likely reason for the Villain's bet is that I played the hand as if I was on a draw. When the flush fails to materialize on the river, Villain probably thinks his weak bet will scare me off. I might have been able to push on the river and get called but I was well aware of all the times that the Villain had folded to similar displays of aggression on the river. Instead, I opted for the near min-raise.)

Villain shows 8 A
Hero shows J T

Hero wins 47.00 with Three of a kind, Ten's

After a lot of folding and a big pot with another player that saw us both hit trips on the river holding the same hand, I finally got the chance to play one last pot against the Villain before the player in the SB knocked him out a few hands later.

Titan Poker 0.50/1.00, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop | saw showdown

Button Hero ($95.05)
SB ($19.00)
BB Villain ($42.02)
UTG ($117.95)
UTG+1 ($126.10)
CO ($172.35)

Preflop: Hero is on the Button with J 9
3 folds, Hero raises to 2.00, 1 fold, Villain calls 1.00.

(My min-raise in this situation may seem a little odd but it's necessary given the Villain's stack size. J9s play well as a stealing hand or as a drawing hand. Unfortunately, a raise to $3 or $4 would create an awkward SPR in the 4-6 range given Villain's tiny stack. I knew the SB was uber-tight so a raise to $2 would create an SPR of 10 if the Villain called: not great but infinitely better than an SPR of 6.)

Flop (4.50) 5 J 4
Villain bets 3.00, Hero calls 3.00.

(Top pair again! I don't want to scare the Villain off by making a strong raise on the flop. Instead, I plan on letting the Villain continue to bet and I'll re-assess the situation on the turn. Also, even though I figure to be ahead at this point, a raise would only begin building a large pot which is not what I'm looking to do with an SPR of 10.)

Turn (10.50) 9
Villain bets 7.00, Hero raises to 15.00, Villain calls 8.00.

(The turn card gives me two pair but also puts a straight draw and a flush draw on the board. When the Villain bets yet again, I decide to make another min-bet in the hopes of inducing an all-in on my opponent's part. My re-raise also commits me to the pot since the Villain has only $20 left after calling.)

River (40.50) T
Villain checks, Hero checks

(My river play is really weak! At the time, I was a little afraid that the Villain had hit a hand since he didn't bet the river. I was also worried that any bet on my part would force the Villain to fold. Both of these points are stupid and wrong! I should have raised more on the turn in order to make an all-in on the river a natural course of action. )

Hero shows J 9
Villain shows 9 7

Hero wins 40.50 with Two pair, Jack's and Nine's with a Ten for a kicker

(I should have stacked the Villain on this last hand...)

As you can see, I'm still working on my game and making frequent mistakes in judgment and bet sizes. But I'm also working hard on incorporating SPR and early commitment decisions into my thought process when playing my hands at the table. As long as I avoid over-committing in bad spots, hitting good stack-to-pot ratios for my hands, and denying my opponents of good SPRs for their hands, I should give myself a chance to post more winning sessions than losing ones.

As I continue to post more of these session reviews and as the thought processes surrounding the hands becomes clearer, my hope is that these Session Review posts help to improve the poker we play and the bankrolls we hold dear.

Keep reading "Session Review #11: Titan Poker, $100 NL (6-max)"

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Year in Review: Poker Stats 2007

After making a brief "year in review" post yesterday, I decided to go back and look over my numbers. Well, it seems that I was a little off in terms of my sit-n-go winnings. I thought I'd go over some of the numbers that shaped my poker life last year. Why? Because I can and it seems that there are many of you out there who enjoy reading about the cold hard numbers if last year's Year in Review is any indication.

Let's see how I did...

First things first: I don't have any records of the poker I played prior to July 2007. When I returned from my first 5-month hiatus from poker, I decided to go for a fresh start. So I cleared out my PokerDominator records and created clean databases for Poker Tracker. The stats I have for you consider only my time at the 6-max no-limit hold'em tables and the small number of sit-n-gos that I played last September.

SNGs

I have a love-relationship with SNGs and, to a lesser extent, MTTs. I love dead money but hate variance. Every time I sit down at a poker table, I want to win: this is the wrong attitude to have as a SNG or tournament poker player. Tournament poker is a good teacher of variance. In order to stay sane and succeed, you need to embrace the variance and learn to ride its choppy waters. Enjoy the times when you're up, learn from or ignore the times when things are not going all that well.

Unfortunately, my brain just isn't built that way. For the most part, I put my money in with the best of it as I'm sure most of my readers do as well. Then again, I clearly attribute my tournament poker successes to skill and my tournament poker losses to luck...as I'm sure most of my readers do as well.

My run with sit-n-gos lasted just over a month, beginnning a month before my second son was born and ending a couple weeks after he first opened his eyes and screamed "HELLO!". Overall, my "in-the-money" percentage stood at a whopping 40.54%; however, my "return on investment" percentage rated an abysmal 1.53%. The low ROI% was due to an awful losing streak that all started around the time of this post.

Here are my SNG and MTT stats as recorded in my PokerDominator ledger:

Tournament Details by Buy-In

Tournament Details by Number of Players

Tournament Details by Tournament Type

6-Max No-limit Hold'em

Starting in July of last year, I decided to re-focus my poker efforts on short-handed no-limit hold'em. I'd done well with that particular game in the past and I was hoping to win a little money while re-learning the game. I was a worried that my game would be too rusty to be considered usable; however, things seemed to work out after a slow start back.

Overall, I was successful at the SHNL tables last year though I only played poker on 43 days. Here's a quick summary:

Here's a quick overview of my Poker Tracker stats:

Some of the important things to notice from the two charts above:

1. I didn't play enough 6-max NL to draw any concrete conclusions about my NL hold'em skills. That being said, I'd say that I'm on the right track to being a winning poker player.


2. Did you notice the jump in BB/100 between the $25 NL and $50 NL games? The secret of my success lies solely in the book Professional No-Limit Hold'em Vol. 1. Why not click this link and buy the book already?


3. My VP$IP is a little on the low side for 6-max games, though well within standard TAG norms. I'm happiest at the poker tables when everything is routine. Although I could try to play a little looser, I'm happy with my hand selection at the moment. As I gain more skill and experience, I expect my VP$IP to climb closer to the 25% mark.


4. You'll notice that I very rarely defend my blinds. As I mentioned in this post, I don't think that blind defense is all that important in no-limit hold'em. I'd rather save my money by not playing out of position in a raised pot.


5. I'll need to start attempting to steal the blinds a little more. Although I was doing fine at the lower buy-in games, my steal attempts were greatly reduced when I moved to the $50 NL and $100 NL tables. I think this is simply a confidence issue. As I get more comfortable with my game and can better identify my opponents, my number of steal attempts should increase to around the 40% to 50% range. I should mention that I pay particular attention to my opponents in the blinds and very rarely try to steal when tricky TAGs or insane LAGs are sitting to my left.


6. I'm happy with the amount of aggression that I'm showing throughout my hands. I concede that I'm typically less aggressive on the turn where I tend to favour pot control over preventing the free card. I don't see this as a huge problem, especially when I'm playing a full 100BB stack. It is something that I'll have to look out for and improve on if I find myself unable to build large pots with my big hands.


7. I can't believe how much rake I paid last year in just under 10,000 hands. I got about $100 of that back, but still...

I hope that 2008 turns out to be a banner year for me on the poker front. If can squeak my way up to the $200 NL tables and continue winning, I'll consider this year to be a smashing success. Though I doubt I'll make any substantial gains in my bankroll, I hope to continue improving on the amount of money that I win at the poker tables (as opposed to blackjack or sportsbet winnings). Believe it or not, 2007 was a much better year in terms of poker winnings than 2006 - if you exclude the MTT that I won in November 2006. I played much more consistently in 2007 due to the study and hard work I put into improving my SHNL game.

I'm looking forward to poker in this New Year. With a new perspective on poker and some new skills under my belt, things could get interesting...

Keep reading "Year in Review: Poker Stats 2007"

A Quick Look Back

New Year's resolutions can be quite funny. We pick lofty goals, pressure ourselves to no end in the hopes of obtaining greatness, then fall flat on our faces time and time again. Although 2007 was a good year financially at the poker tables, I failed to meet a single one last year's resolutions.

Last year, I resolved to accomplish the following:

"1. I'd really like to hit $20K in career earnings. I'm not sure whether I'll make it given that I have a wonderful wife and son that I want to spend time with and a crippling Xbox 360 addiction; however, I'll do my best. It will definitely be much harder to earn money this year given that I will be staying clear of the blackjack tables in an effort to focus solely on my poker game.

2. I'd like to drop 65 lbs. this year. Yep...I gained weight last year. I really packed on the weight when my wife was pregnant...about 30 lbs if my calculations are correct.

3. I'd like to find myself playing at the $4/$8 and $5/$10 short-handed limit hold'em by the end of the year. Given the criteria outlined here, that means that I'll have to play at least 25,000 hands of very good poker. The plan will be to finish off the last 5000 or so hands at the 1/2 tables, then play 10K hands at 2/4, and another 10K at 3/6. At that point, I hope that my game is solid enough to begin tackling the bigger games."

How did I do?

Well, I hit about $11K in career earnings before going crazy and cashing out all but $1000. The money that I'd saved up got spent paying bills and buying a few video games. Oh, and I'm sure a large portion of my former bankroll went towards purchasing shares in Huggies, one poopie diaper at a time.

Could I have hit the $20K mark? If I'd stuck with short-handed limit poker, it's quite possible. My bankroll goal was dependent on me getting into the $3/$6, $4/$8, and $5/$10 6-max limit hold'em games; I didn't even come close. The games got harder, variance screwed with my head, and I chickened out and moved into $25 buy-in 6-max no-limit hold'em.

Unfortunately, the move to the $25 NL tables meant less money coming into the bankroll on a nightly basis. Doubts about playing poker began creeping in. Why waste my valuable time playing for pennies online when I could be playing the latest and greatest video games on my Xbox 360? And so I took my first hiatus from poker in February.

July saw my somewhat-triumphant return to the tables. I'd played loads of video games and was ready for the challenges of poker once again. Although I spent a little time at the 6-max $25 NL tables, I quickly jumped up to the $50 NL tables as soon as I my bankroll hit the twenty buy-in threshold.

I continued playing no-limit hold'em until September. After a good run in a few sit-n-gos, I figured that I could make more money playings SNGs than I could playing NLH. And so I dove whole-heartedly into the world of single table tournaments. I went on a hot streak that saw me quickly bump my bankroll by about $600. And then variance came by and screwed me out of about $300.

And then my second son was born! At that point in time, I decided it'd be best to leave poker behind me for a little while until I was getting enough sleep and enough free time to warrant logging any time at the tables.

In late December, I sat down and started playing some 6-max $100 NL. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm attempting to log at least 500 hands of poker a week for all of 2008. By keeping things casual and avoiding bankroll-related goals, I'm hoping to avoid hitting hiatus status yet again in 2008. I really do enjoy poker and I need to remind myself of that fact when things are going quite as well as I'd hoped.

If I happen work up enough of a bankroll to play some $200 NL, so be it. If not, I'll keep plugging away at $100 NL. And who knows? Maybe 2008 will be the year when I take up Omaha? Or perhaps it will be 7-card stud? And when all else fails, I have my Xbox 360 to keep me busy.

As for last year's resolution to drop 65 pounds, I'm still working on it. Only 65 more pounds to go...

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