Thursday, September 28, 2006

Bringing Home the Silver

If I could pick a theme to properly describe last night it would probably be “A Night of Firsts” as I FINALLY managed to final table the Mookie, FINALLY managed to cash in it and was all but one suckout away from winning the whole thing.

Why the name Papi Justify? I created my Full Tilt account before the whole blogging thing came about. I believed it’s inspired by some character in the incredibly shitty movie “The Skeleton Key”. I contacted Full Till to have it changed but they seem frown on those type things since they would not want to upset the various notes that Poker players have on me. Whatever. I guess me CONTINUALLY bringing business to that Rock garden paying Rake (minus my 28% rake back) should not allow them to grant me this one favour?

As for the tourney, well, it was one of those nights where my bad plays were rewarded and I ended up going deep in the process. You’ll have those nights playing cash games too, making the wrong moves at the right time and Voilà. Case and point:

In the 2nd level, I make it 3.5X the BB from the button with KdJd. Zeem re-raises me from the SB. Since I have a decent hand for a button-SB battle + position, I decide to make the call. The flop is Kc-Xc-Xc and he immediately bets out. I pause for a bit and I simply can’t see him having a King and I won’t give him credit for a flush right away. I put him on Ac-X. His bet was not anything frightening so I decide to peel one off and move in on a safe card on the turn (I have him covered by a little bit). Said turn is a complete blank (although it gives me a gutshot straight draw) and he moves in for his last 550$. The pot is enormous at this point and I make the call with what could be the best hand, if not at least I have some outs. Well he didn’t have one ace, he had two. So I was a bit shocked to hit my gutshot on the river and send him packing.

Oops.

Well I put him on a hand and I stuck with it. So I deserve some credit for that, right? *Crickets chirp*

That hand put me near the top of the leader board but I then proceeded to lose every single hand I was involved in for a little while to knock me back down to the middle of the pack. I clawed my way back up by lifting a big one off of Waffles when he tried to move me off a hand on a complete bluff and I brilliantly outplayed Will Wonka in a battle of the blinds where I extracted maximum value with my flopped to top pair to his flopped middle pair + top kicker.

Iak’s arrival to our table was good for me, although dreadful for him. Seated two to my right, I knew he was going to take multiple stabs at my blinds. I successfully shot him down twice in his early attempts to slow him a down quite a bit. I think I had him on Tilt by the end since I got him to call off his entire stack with Second pair+ good picker when I was clearly representing top pair.

Breakdown of the hand: He makes it 3x the BB from the CO. Knowing his range is quite large, I make it 9X the big blind with As9s. He thinks for a bit and makes the call. Flop comes A-J-x. I immediately put him all-in and he thinks for quite a long time before making the call with Q-J. He blanks the turn and the river and I sit atop of the leader board.

I coasted to the final table from there. I don’t remember much of the details but the final table was brutal. My stack went up and down like a Yo-Yo since I was really aggressive. Better that than being blinded off I guess.

I made it all the way to end thanks to some @##$ hands holding up for once. You know all these tournaments where you kings get killed by AK yet your AK goes down in flames to 2-2? Well, last night was the opposite of that. I doubled up with pocket fives against A-5s to bring me back near the top and I burst the bubble when I knocked Will Wonka with AK versus his A7s (after a ridiculous re-suck by my part). Luck was also greatly on my side when I doubled up through PresDaveLee after I push from the button with 7-5o and he calls me with J-10s. His rivered jack also happened to give me a rivered one card flush. To add insult to injury, I knocked him out of the tourney when I ran my 8’s right into his 10’s but spiked an 8 on the turn to finish him off.

Finally, the good ol’ “If you live by the suckout, you die by the suckout” held true when I got all my chips in with 6’s against Duggle’s A5s on 235 board when he spiked another 5 on the turn to finish me of for good.

This tourney kicks ass!!


It seems a bulk of my playing time in October will be spent at Pokerroom.com as I work my way through their pretty nice 50% up to 500$ bonus. Give it a try if you can!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Poker Absentia

I haven’t played a single hand of Poker since the DADI H.O.R.S.E tournament last week. Just couldn’t find the time. H.O.R.S.E was a kick ass time though. I’d say I did pretty well (Bubbled the final table) considering I had never played 3 of the 5 games. I obviously made a ton of mistakes that cost me somewhat, my biggest one being overplaying a pair of aces in O8/B hand that cost me 3/4 of my stack. Never really had a chance to recover and that was it for my ass. Really looking forward to playing another one though!

Meanwhile, I’ve still been pounding the Casino bonuses. I avoided going busto on William Hill, cashing out with a 10$ profit. While it is a tragedy, I’ll gladly take it considering how down and out I was throughout this one. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to redeem myself on their monthly reloads.

While I truly appreciate the break from grinding the LHE tables to Gamboool it up at Casinos, it’s pretty clear that the quality of my blog has suffered deeply because of it. I’m not a really good writer (English IS my second language after all) so it’s a bit hard for me to bang out 1000+ word essays about my daily non-adventures. Now if we consider my laughable Poker Skilz, it’s quite obvious my game is not up to snuff to put out solid, thought provoking Poker strategery content. I’m still fairly new to this blogging thing so hopefully I manage to find my voice sooner than later.

Whatever Poker I’ve allowed myself to play this month (Tournaments) will even have to make way this week for other obligations. Mostly Fantasy Hockey drafts, or hockey pools for us canucks. I have a few sessions setup for today and tomorrow which, unfortunately, conflicts with the Mookie and the WWDN. Hopefully next week!

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Lady Variance, I am Thy Bitch

When I first read Scurvy’s guide to profiting from Casino bonuses, I was quite perplexed by his comments regarding the role that variance plays in Blackjack. We obviously all know how cruel that bitch can be in Poker, but in Blackjack?

Oh hell yeah...

How so? I’d say I’m approximately 75 hands away from busting out completely of William Hill Casino, if that. How did it happen? If only I knew. I’ve simply been running ice cold. I follow the stupid BS strategy chart and make 1$ bets. It just seems every single hand that I’ve been playing, the dealer is showing an Ace or a King has an upcard. If I hit 21, he ties. I get 20, he ends up with 21. 19, he has 20, etc.

400 hands to go, down to my last 50$ (Out of 180$), I can’t wait to see how this will end up. (Hint: I think it’s spelled B-U-S-T-O)

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Played the WWDN last night, again, fairly poorly. Impatience and blatant stupidity were the main culprits of my downfall this time. I couldn’t get ANYTHING going, card dead, rarely finding a spot to steal some blinds, etc. I finally met my demise when I pushed 95s from the BB on a re-steal after a button raise from Bdidde. He had been raising a lot of pots so I figured I’d look him up. While I was only a 3 to 2 dog to his AK, his flopped Ace + four nut flush put a damper on my meagre hopes quite quickly.

I’m a such a donkey...

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I miss Poker.

More specifically, I miss grinding the cash games. On the + side, I stuck to my guns and worked on the Casino Bonuses this month but man, Blackjack ain’t Poker that’s for damn sure. Ten more days and I can get back at it, not a damn moment too soon might I add. I already have my challenge picked out for October too. Probably something like 5K hands of 2/4 LHE 6-Max. Nothing better to cure Poker absentia than Poker OD.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Weekend Wrap up and Various Coming and Goings

Where on earth did this nice weather come from? I, for one, am not going to complain, but it’s still pretty shocking to be on the back end of a three day bender of mid-twenties temperature and gorgeous sunshine. A little tease before the crap kicks in?

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I haven’t been blogging much lately since Poker play has been scarce around here. I’ve mostly been grinding down Casino bonuses. I did manage to complete the Pokerroom reload bonus (for a nice 1000$ payout) and finally cashout my winnings on the whole Mansion Steerlers deal. Onwards and upwards!

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Found the time to play two tournaments yesterday. A 5$ MTT on Stars and a 10$ MTT on Pacific. I made baby money in the 5$ but got knocked out near the bubble in the other.

An interesting hand from the 5$ tourney. With blinds at 100/200$ with a 25$ ante, all fold to me on the button with 5-6o. With antes in play, I’ll raise 95% of my hands in this situation. I will only consider folding useless junk like 8-2o and that depends mostly on who is in the blinds. So I make it 650$ to go and I get called by the big blind. Flop comes out 4s-7h-8h. Cha ching! The BB checks to me and since there’s a possible flush draw out there, I bet 40% of the pot. The BB reraises me (I’m thinking flopped two pair) so I jam and he insta-calls with KK. Ah, when slowplaying goes bad. He blanks the turn and the river and proceeds to let me hear it for the next 25 minutes. “Who the hell raises with 5-6o”, ”You’re a donkey, where the hell did you learn to play Poker?”, etc. I was gonna put an effort to try and explain that with the blinds being what they are and the ante’s in play, this is pretty much an automatic raise when all fold to you on the button but I didn’t bother. I was praying for any type of hand so I could raise his blind again and bust him but alas, the Poker Gods were not on my side...

So I’m moved to this new table and my stack is not in the greatest shape, a wee bit under the average. With blinds at 300-600/50, I make it 1800 to go from MP with 55. I get called by the button and everyone else folds. At this point, the pot is ginormous and I’m moving in on any flop that looks safe. I’m worried about 66-99 but I have to take my chances. Flop comes 3-3-6, so I move in. Button thinks for a while and calls with AJo. So he pretty much calls off 60% of his stack with no pair and no draw. NH, buddy.

Turn: A (of course)
River: J (Why not)

I had an atrocious feeling as soon as I saw his hand turned over. I NEVER benefit from stupid play, they ALWAYS draw out on me.


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The day after I wrote that whiny post about the one outer I happen to lose another one in similar fashion. AA flops a set, turns aces full of kings which also gives my opponent quad kings. To quote my friend: “Man, if you were sitting at a badbeat jackpot table for those two hands, you’d probably be up 20K by now”.

Yes, yes indeed.

I shall now go weep in a corner for my troubles...

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

The Infamous One-Outer

Me AA
Vilain 10-10

Flop: A-Q-10
Turn 3
River: 10

Yes, that was in a cash game and yes, it cost me a ton of money. It was capped both on the turn and on the river (5/10 LHE) . I thought about quads for a little while but there’ SO many other holdings he could have at that point that I figured I was losing money if I didn’t jam.

Can’t really blame his play on that hand either, he had a freakin’ set, there’s no way he could have gotten away from that hand. And when that river card falls...

That’s Poker.

I played the WWDN last night but I played it EXTREMELY poorly. I started up pretty well but my crack head tendencies reared they’re ugly heads again and I soon found myself loading up cash games and casino bonuses to work through in between hands. Not surprisingly enough, my arse was busted when I pushed on the turn with a flush draw since it seems I was getting bored.

Speaking of Casino bonuses, I’m halfway throughs the 1600$ Wr’s at Planet Luck and I’m down about 35$. This one has been a pain in my arse since the beginning. I don’t think I was ever up for one single bet. There still plenty of hands to play so let’s hope variance is kinder to me throughout the second half of this nonsense.

I also need 800 or so more points to complete the Pokerroom.com reload bonus. These things are such an unbelievable pain in the arse that I simply cannot wait to be done with it. The main problem remains that game selection. It's simply appalling to see what's being offered sometimes in the evenings. Seriously, a 5/10 LHE with a 35$ average pot?


While you’re here (all 0 of you) make sure to stop by Hoy’s blog and congratulate him on another fine run (and payout) in another MTT. He sure plays those good.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Summer’s over, it was great, Thanks for the Memories

Hate to say it but it’s true. Freezing my balls off come night time as well as in the morning already makes me yearn for the days of summer. And to think that snowstorms, shovelling and block heaters are around the corner makes this Poker Player quite the unhappy person.

With the summer festivities freshly behind us, I’m already looking forward to picking up the slack in the physical activity department. Mainly kicking it up a notch at the gym. I’ve been lifting weights for 5 years. Fairly serious stuff, at least 4 times a week on average. I pretty much got into it when I graduated university and I never looked back. It’s quite simply the best medicine out there: gives you tons of energy, keeps you stress free and clears up your mind like nothing else can.

When summer rolls around, I usually mellow out a bit on the lifting. Really hard to find the motivation go there after a gruelling day of work and temperatures in the mid 30's (Celsius obviously). I tend to skip a day here and there, dick around with the cardio, forego a few exercises. I usually also abstain from using protein supplements during the good season. It’s just such a drag to carry all that in your stomach in the super warm weather.

All good things must come to an end they say, as I’ve been gearing myself up to go back at it pretty hard starting tonight. I really went overboard with the junk food lately; I pretty much ate some kind of restaurant crap food every single damn day last week. I am blessed with good genetics in the sense that I can get away with eating tons of crap without it really affecting my weight (I seriously believe that I could go on the ‘Supersize me’ diet and end up 20 pounds heavier unlike my dad or my brother who gain weight by simply WATCHING a McDonald’s commercial).

Cardio, weights, protein shakes, can’t wait!

On the gambooling front, Poker went well for the weekend and I also completed my first casino bonus (Finished with a grand total of 212$ at Starluck casino (100$ deposit + 100$ bonus + 12$ profit)) and I’m already a 1 /4 through Planetluck casino WR’S (down 30$ but who cares really). I’m hoping to finish that one this week and hit another before the weekend. I’m also gonna make an effort to play a few tournaments. I’m also working my way through a 250$ reload bonus on Pokerroom (plowing through these things are a bitch) so I’ll grind down as much out of it as I can and see where that gets me.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

And They Did Just That

Thank you Steelers-D for coming up huge in the clutch.

Thank you Culpepper for whatever the hell you were thinking on those back to back picks.

And finally, thank you Mansion for the free 1000$...

Memo to the Pittsburgh Steelers

Just win baby.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Getting Screwed by the Man

Boy, Ben Roth’s appendix sure picked the right time to burst didn’t it? You almost wonder if Mansion dumped boatloads of money onto the Pittsburgh Steelers to have their guy sit out the opener. Maybe they setup that motorcycle accident too, you can never be to careful when money’s involved after all.

What a train wreck.

The games are played for a reason, right? If not, they’d give Brazil the WC every four years and my Ottawa Senators would have, at the very least, three Stanley cup banners hanging from the rafters. Que sera sera, I’m not hedging the bet (fairly impossible anyways since I locked it at -4.5 for the Steelers - good luck finding that line somewhere) . I’ll let the chips fall wherever they may and I’ll pick up the pieces afterwards.

This weekend was pretty relaxed as far as gambooling is concerned. I wasn’t around much so I squeezed all that I could to some pretty decent results.

First up was completing the Party Poker reload bonus to the tune of a 200$+ profit. Quite nice, but the rake, Jesus Christ, that rake...

How bad? I somehow payed MORE money in rake than what I actually deposited in my account when it was all said and done. Unless there’s a reload of some kind over there, it’s pretty much a no go for the low limit grinders. That rake will suck your bones dry. It seems I’ll only be back to grind the full ring 10/20$ games and up. I figure you should be safe from that nonsense up there.

I also finally started grinding the casino bonuses and so far it seems to be going good. I’m down 11$ a little less than halfway through the whole thing. I was up to 50$ at one point but variance caught up in a nasty way and I kept running into blackjacks, 21's or 10's for the dealer for a long while to knock me down to where I am right now. It’s nothing major really, 1$ a hand and follow the chart. It’s pretty mindless fun. I figure a regular Casino bonus can be completed in two days. I’ll set my target a 5 for this month and we’ll see how that goes.

So on tap for tonight should be more Blackjack and maybe an appearance at the WWDN. We’ll see!