WSOP, 3rd in NL $20

The WSOP Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaain Event starts tomorrow, and of course we had to run a little fantasy pool for $50 each, winner takes all (although when I get 2nd like I always do at these things, I'm gonna beg for a chop), ANYWAYS, it's pretty simple, pick 20 guys and whoever cahses in the money will recieve a certain amount of points depending on the payout structure. I'm sure there are better ways to run it, but hey, we're lazy. And now, without further apu, here's my list. (Note that I went with a strategy different from others, I tried to pick people that constantly do well in LARGE fields, rather than the people like DN or Gavin Smith, who tend to go broke real fast or do real well) However, I had to go with Ivey even though he uses that exact strategy. I also have a few dark horses that I'm SURE that nobody else picked. I also went with a couple of online pros, because they constantly go through larger fields, even though the play is pretty bad.

1. Phil Ivey
2. Allen Cunningham
3. John Juanda
4. Phil Hellmuth
5. Men Nguyen
6. David Pham
7. Howard Lederer
8. Michael Mizrachi
9. John Phan
10. Tim Phan
11. Victor Ramdin
12. Nam Le
13. Johnny Chan
14. Lee Watkinson
15. Chad Brown
16. Cliff "Johnnybax" Josephy
17. Dan Harrington
18. Chris Ferguson
19. Eric "Rizen" Lynch
20. Miami John Cernuto

Also shout outs to Darrel "Sleuthis" Derosie, nutzbuster, loosh, and all the other FCPers playing in the MAAAAAAAAAAAIN event tomorrow.

As for the $20 tourney, 3 hands, The GOOD, the BAD, and the UGGGGGGGGGLY. Well actually, it was just me getting really really close to another win, and then throwing it away. Or Lady Luck just owned me.

One day I will get my win.

PokerStars Game #5663761630: Tournament #28151727, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (10000/20000) - 2006/07/24 - 05:10:08 (ET)
Table '28151727 37' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 3: thesidedish (514798 in chips)
Seat 4: tb17 (228752 in chips)
Seat 9: knass007 (660450 in chips)
thesidedish: posts the ante 1000
tb17: posts the ante 1000
knass007: posts the ante 1000
knass007: posts small blind 10000
thesidedish: posts big blind 20000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tb17 [6s 9c]
tb17: raises 30000 to 50000
knass007: folds
thesidedish: calls 30000
*** FLOP *** [5s 7s 3s]
thesidedish: bets 180000
tb17: calls 177752 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5s 7s 3s] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [5s 7s 3s 5c] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thesidedish: shows [7h 9h] (two pair, Sevens and Fives)
tb17: shows [6s 9c] (a straight, Three to Seven)
tb17 collected 468504 from pot
tb17 said, "ooh theres a good beat"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 468504 | Rake 0
Board [5s 7s 3s 5c 4d]
Seat 3: thesidedish (big blind) showed [7h 9h] and lost with two pair, Sevens and Fives
Seat 4: tb17 (button) showed [6s 9c] and won (468504) with a straight, Three to Seven
Seat 9: knass007 (small blind) folded before Flop



PokerStars Game #5663763246: Tournament #28151727, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (10000/20000) - 2006/07/24 - 05:10:42 (ET)
Table '28151727 37' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: thesidedish (286046 in chips)
Seat 4: tb17 (468504 in chips)
Seat 9: knass007 (649450 in chips)
thesidedish: posts the ante 1000
tb17: posts the ante 1000
knass007: posts the ante 1000
thesidedish: posts small blind 10000
tb17: posts big blind 20000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tb17 [6s 6d]
knass007 said, "omg"
knass007: folds
thesidedish: raises 265046 to 285046 and is all-in
tb17: calls 265046
*** FLOP *** [Ah Jh 3d]
*** TURN *** [Ah Jh 3d] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah Jh 3d 4s] [8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thesidedish: shows [3h 3c] (three of a kind, Threes)
tb17: shows [6s 6d] (a pair of Sixes)
tb17 said, "lame"
thesidedish collected 573092 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 573092 | Rake 0
Board [Ah Jh 3d 4s 8d]
Seat 3: thesidedish (small blind) showed [3h 3c] and won (573092) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 4: tb17 (big blind) showed [6s 6d] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 9: knass007 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

PokerStars Game #5663779095: Tournament #28151727, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (10000/20000) - 2006/07/24 - 05:16:23 (ET)
Table '28151727 37' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: thesidedish (491642 in chips)
Seat 4: tb17 (373458 in chips)
Seat 9: knass007 (538900 in chips)
thesidedish: posts the ante 1000
tb17: posts the ante 1000
knass007: posts the ante 1000
thesidedish: posts small blind 10000
tb17: posts big blind 20000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tb17 [4h 4d]
knass007: folds
thesidedish: raises 40000 to 60000
knass007 said, "hehe"
tb17 said, "440 not good enough?"
tb17: raises 312458 to 372458 and is all-in
thesidedish: calls 312458
*** FLOP *** [Jh 9c 3d]
knass007 said, "ok if 1 th"
*** TURN *** [Jh 9c 3d] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [Jh 9c 3d 7h] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
thesidedish: shows [Js As] (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
tb17: shows [4h 4d] (two pair, Nines and Fours)
thesidedish collected 747916 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 747916 | Rake 0
Board [Jh 9c 3d 7h 9d]
Seat 3: thesidedish (small blind) showed [Js As] and won (747916) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 4: tb17 (big blind) showed [4h 4d] and lost with two pair, Nines and Fours
Seat 9: knass007 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Need Rakeback on FTP

I'm gonna play 20k hands of limit next month. I need to go back to it. Fuck tourneys :)

An Article By Darrel "Gigabet" Dicken

WARNING: Very Long. But a very good read.

Throughout my years of playing poker, I have found that the most common reason for the "failure" of poker players stems not from lack of ability, but the fear of "failure." Where does this fear come from? Let me start with the two words that are pertinent here, success and failure. These are words that mean such different things to each individual that to use them to label your accomplishments, or lack thereof, is setting yourself up for a long, arduous journey that most won't finish. Success and failure are just ideas created by society to improperly judge others against ourselves. There are no successful people, or I should say, using these words, there are no failures, and everyone is a success.

"Everyone will eventually run worse than he thought was possible. The difference between a winner and a loser is that the latter thinks he does not deserve it." - Craig Hartman

This statement is truer than I believe anyone can know (even though I think most people reading this do know, it just seems impossible for me to believe that someone else can truly understand). The problem with the statement, however, is that thinking about winners and losers in this manner will keep you from attaining a more complete game. There are no winners and losers; to think that is to let yourself be affected by negative variance. If you are not on the plus side for the day, then you are, in effect, a loser, and so the downward spiral begins. All of those negative ideas must be eliminated from your mind or you will not perform to your potential. The trick is recognizing these negative ideas.

Because there are so many and they are so commonplace in our society, it is a large task indeed to sort them out as real, or just ideas created by the masses. Our labels for winners and losers simply identify individuals who play the same game a different way. Just because one person doesn't achieve the same goal for which I am striving doesn't make that person a "loser." Everyone is the same, and everyone has the same potential; some just direct their energies in a different direction. The sooner you can get that idea into your head, and really believe it, the sooner you will start to have a real understanding of the game.

I really believe that everyone has the psychological fortitude to manage the vicissitudes of this game. It is simply a choice - a choice to change the way that you think about results. Stop thinking in terms of winning as good and losing as bad. The two concepts should be grouped in your mind exactly the same. When God "blessed" mankind with shame, failure became a real entity with which we had to deal. That is what we are trying to achieve when we label a person as a failure, we are attaching shame to a meaningless act. Throughout my life, I have been around lots of people whom most would classify as "failures," and knowing them personally, I would say that none of them seemed any different than myself.

The problem comes to life when people start a downswing, which most would classify as "losing." They begin to suspect that they may "fail," and rather than become susceptible to the shame that comes with "failure," they decide to quit.

They stop playing because they fear things that aren't even real. The people who come to realize that these negative labels aren't real, either concretely or intuitively, are the same people who do not give up, no matter how bad things seem to be running. Eventually, they become the "professionals" in whatever walk of life they choose.

You have to find your own way to deal with these thoughts that have been ingrained in your mind your entire life. Identifying every negative thought as it creeps into your mind is a start; it takes practice to monitor your thoughts, but you cannot eliminate what you do not recognize.

I try very hard not to allow any negativity into my life; just ask anyone who has played next to me for any length of time how irate I get when, after playing and struggling for hours on end, that person utters those deadly words, "I can't win," as I am certain you have done at one point in time or another.

You might think that you can avoid this trap of psychological betrayal by turning your "noise filter" all the way up. While that will work for a time, the noise builds and builds, until everything that you have blocked comes pouring out at one time, which creates the very worst tilt imaginable. Believe me, I have been there many times. I have come to realize that it is much better to acknowledge the negative or angry thoughts as they arrive. That doesn't mean just noticing their presence; when they approach, actually talk to your mind and announce their arrival, then identify the reasons behind the thoughts. As your mind comes to realize how trivial and meaningless these thoughts are, it will eventually stop creating them in the first place. It takes a lot of time and effort to do this, but the long-term results will be well worth it.

So, How Does This All Relate to Poker?
The game that most of us play is really very simple. You get two cards, five cards come on the board, and you do a little betting here and there. The best five-card hand wins.

In a game this simple, why do so many people have so much trouble ending up ahead of where they started?

The real game is about people, not the cards in your hand. If you know a person well enough, you can read his hand, and once you know what he's holding, the game becomes a cakewalk. The problem is, we have predisposed ideas of who a person is, based on ideas that have been placed in our heads by our society. You have to be able to eliminate all of these ideas. Once you train yourself to be completely judgement-free, you will become a more complete player.

Anyone can read a person's hand based on his actions and seeing common tendencies; that is, a beginning player will commonly bet small when on a draw and big when he has a made hand. What about more experienced players? What does it mean when they bet two-thirds of the pot one time and then pot the next? They certainly are experienced enough to know not to bet the same pattern for the same types of hands. So, how can you figure out what they have?

Well, get to know them, watch them play. Try to figure out what they're thinking, as they have to be thinking something.

Put yourself in their spot; what kind of hand would you have if you were betting like that?

Now, do this for every hand of every player who is in a hand, for every player at the table, and if you're playing online, for every table that you are playing (try to eight-table while doing this exercise). Put effort into every single hand that is played out at your table, not just the hands in which you are involved. Every time there is a showdown, and the losing hand is mucked, open up the hand history file and see what it was. Go through a hand again and see if you can figure out why a player willingly showed down a losing hand (something that rarely should be done).

I called this an exercise, but it should be done on every single hand that is played out at any of your tables for the rest of your poker career. This is how you become a real player. Post-flop is where the real game is at, and it is fun to play.

Use your bets to pull information from an opponent, and then when you know what he has, trust your judgement 100 percent. If you think he is on second pair but will not fold unless you bet your whole stack, bet your whole stack (unless, of course, you have a better hand than second pair, which is unlikely, since players like us can rarely beat bottom pair), even if it means your tournament is over if you are wrong. Practice trusting yourself; you will be wrong enough in the beginning to doubt yourself, but don't let that stop you.

There is a strong possibility that I am the most active player in the world, and I can honestly say that this is something I do on nearly every hand. Imagine playing 6,000 hands a day on average, and watching and learning with no predisposed judgements of the other players. That is what it takes. Bad beats are no longer bad beats; they are just the cards coming out randomly, evening themselves out over time. What is really important is learning the thousands of languages that different people speak through their actions at the table. Believe me, it isn't some spiritual science, it is listening and learning without prejudice.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly over the last 2 days

The good

- Coming 2nd in the $50 Limit tourney for $720
- First cash in a while in the $10 rebuy ($160)
- My tourney play in the last week
- I feel like I'm winning 60% of my races, which is good

The bad

- Bubbling out of the $3 rebuy after investing $50
- Most of the tourneys I didnt cash in the last couple days, although I felt I played well.

The UGLY (this is all today)

- Playing 1 out of 59 hands in the $150+12, then the one time I steal I find myself dominated by A-6.
- Rebuying 21 times in the $5 rebuy for a 5k stack and then busting with 99 to 77, oh yes, 3 for 22 showdown ratio
- Actually closing the browser after my 4-4 loses to A-Kx3. (Yes it was a 4 way all in and they ALL had A-K), but OF COURSE the A comes. I was left with 2800, and I didnt bother to addon.

Somehow I find myself up like $200. But it feels like someone kicked me in the nuts.

I have never ever just closed the browser and left, but today I did. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

How to fail at trapping 101.

$20 Rebuy at 12:00, in for the minimum ($62), and played pretty well. Got really lucky as a Short Stack Ninja when I pushed with a-7 into the BB's JJ. Flop came 4-3-2. Turn was 3 of hearts giving me any H (He had the Jh), any ace, and any 5. River was an Ace.

With 22 left, I should've just standard raised. But the greediness took over my head.

PokerStars Game #5526007809: Tournament #27707232, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (2000/4000) - 2006/07/11 - 15:58:28 (ET)
Table '27707232 7' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: aboz21 (148692 in chips)
Seat 2: LosChief (44204 in chips)
Seat 3: Beflush (200093 in chips)
Seat 4: Durabo (25519 in chips)
Seat 6: tb17 (52909 in chips)
Seat 7: pamandra83 (13087 in chips)
Seat 9: CPGR (62820 in chips)
aboz21: posts the ante 200
LosChief: posts the ante 200
Beflush: posts the ante 200
Durabo: posts the ante 200
tb17: posts the ante 200
pamandra83: posts the ante 200
CPGR: posts the ante 200
LosChief: posts small blind 2000
Beflush: posts big blind 4000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tb17 [Ac Ad]
Durabo: folds
tb17: calls 4000
pamandra83: folds
CPGR: folds
aboz21: folds
LosChief: calls 2000
Beflush: checks
*** FLOP *** [6c Qd 8s]
LosChief: checks
Beflush: checks
tb17: bets 8000
LosChief: raises 32004 to 40004 and is all-in
Beflush: calls 40004
tb17: calls 32004
*** TURN *** [6c Qd 8s] [3c]
Beflush: bets 12000
tb17: calls 8705 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [6c Qd 8s 3c] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Beflush: shows [8h Qs] (two pair, Queens and Eights)
tb17: shows [Ac Ad] (a pair of Aces)
Beflush said, "wowww"
aboz21 said, "wow"
Beflush collected 17410 from side pot
LosChief: shows [Ts Qc] (a pair of Queens)
Beflush collected 133412 from main pot
aboz21 said, "nh"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 150822 Main pot 133412. Side pot 17410. | Rake 0
Board [6c Qd 8s 3c 9d]
Seat 1: aboz21 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: LosChief (small blind) showed [Ts Qc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 3: Beflush (big blind) showed [8h Qs] and won (150822) with two pair, Queens and Eights
Seat 4: Durabo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: tb17 showed [Ac Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: pamandra83 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: CPGR folded before Flop (didn't bet)

$171 ain't bad tho...kinda sucky considering I was 2 of 46. Oh well, another day.

Congrats Looshle

This'll be short. But congratulations to fellow FCPer Justin "Looshle" Pechie for cashing HUGE in the $2500 NL event at the WSOP. And tough luck on the cold deck hand.

Glad to see a LHE Strat advice giver do well.

Way to forget about the blog.

Well then. I wish I had more time to post, but it's been a willlllllllld couple of weeks.

I paid a lot of school fees with the 7k week. Sadly enough, I wouldn't say I was playing the best poker of my life, as for some reason I feel the best when I get unlucky. Either way, I invested about 1500 in tourneys in June, so a huge net profit of +5500 was nice. Not to mention it was finally nice getting some cashes on pokerstars after months.

Date Tournament/Event Place Winnings
06/21/2006 Hold'em NL $100 6 $1,175
06/19/2006 Hold'em NL $10+Rebuys 3 $5,754
Date Tournament/Event Buyin+Rake Place Winnings
06/17/2006 Hold'em NL $100+$0 16 $340

It was a good feeling after that, but I wanted more. I wanted a win badly. After about 15 tourneys without a cash and LOTS of bubbling, I decided to clear a bonus from FCP. This was teh original bonus from being a charter member when the site first opened. Anyways, I got bored with limit real fast, and jumped into what I thougth would be a MASSIVE overlay. At 7:59, there were 130 people that joined the $50+4 US daily tourney (scheduled to start at 8 pm EST). I'm thinking, ok maybe i'll join, then I read the tag that said "$13,000 Guaranteed". At this point I'm as happy as Phil Hellmuth when he calls an all in with the nuts. I spring out of my chair Hellmuth style and join the tourney.

So I wait, 8 pm passes along, no tourney. I'm freaking out because the only reason why I wanted to play this thing in the first place was because of the overlay.

(130 x 50 = 7500. Pot is guaranteed at 13k so 13k - 7500 = 5500 added to the pot, which means basically 130 people's worth of dead money)

The tourney finally starts at 8:10, and 40 more people have joined, so only a 90 person overlay. That's bearable. I look around for any FCPers from the forum, no dice. I play my usual tight style in the beginning, pick up A-K near the break, double up when I double up from a guy who just cannot WAIT to get it in with a-7. Good job champ. That was the only real pot I played, and I was at 2700 at the break.

Now I was more focused on the travesty that was the $3 rebuy on pokerstars. I was so bitter with last night's loss (101st with 99 paying), that I decided I was gonna get a LOT of chips, and I was gonna cash. Well, no dice. I ended the rebuy period with 3150, after a woeful 1 for 16 showdown ratio (all were all in showdowns), with the 1 win being a SPLIT POT. So $3.30 + 15 double rebuys (at $6 a piece) and an addon means $96.50 invested...in a $3 tourney, with a PITIFUL stack. Words can't really describe how angry I was. Not really thinking, I jumped into a $150+12 tourney.

The only good thing about the $150+12 was that I made the first break. I get 9-9 in the BB, and a LAG raises to 150 (blinds at 25/50), I choose not to re-raise (although I think in retrospect I should've).

Flop comes 10s-4s-3c. I fire out a bet of 200 to test whether he has the 10. He only calls, and at this point I've got him on a flush draw with 2 overcards, as he was a solid player who has got to at least respect me for top pair.

Turn comes the 2s, and my big blunder. I had about 1900, while my opponent had about 1100 in the hole. I decided to play a trap, and check-raise him all in if he bet. He bet 300, and I shoved on him. The more I think about it, the crappier the play gets, because there aren't many hands that he would CALL all in with, that I beat. A lot of hands that I was even or that I was beating, were now crushing me. So why do this? I dont think even a Js-rag can get away from this pot. It was stupid.

Either way, solid player couldnt WAIT to get his chips in with 2h-4h. Board doesn't pair, I'm crippled. I then play good short stack ninja styles until my 6-6 runs into 9-9.

Back to the $3 rebuy, where I manage to double up my pitiful stack with QQ vs JJ. At 6k, I was still half of the avg, which is NOT good. I limped into a pot with Kh-Jh after two limpers, and we saw a flop of 6h-7h-8d. I decided it was time to get all thge money in. Turns out a huge 50k stack loved his q-8 and called the all ins of the BB and me (who both had 6k stacks), the BB had 9-10, and it held up. What a waste of $96.50.

Meanwhile the $50+4 is going well, I bust out A-8 against my A-K, then win a race with A-K vs QQ. With the massive overlay, it was pretty easy to sit back, pick my spots, and steal the blinds, which was exactly what I did. I would go for 3 rounds without seeing a flop, then steal 4 in a row. Then I would sit back for a round, and take 2 sets of blinds. Since there were no antes, there wasn't really much incentive to play outside of the blinds, and the Ms were a lot higher than normal.

With 32 left, and 30 paying, I saw maybe the two worst bubble players in history. A person who did not play the whole tourney was at 10 at the dealer positionw ith blinds of 300/600 at another table. So what do these two guys do with Ms of 8 and 10 respectively? Well, mr 32nd place decided he was gonna push on a K-3-4-7 board against the chip leader, WITH SIX SIX. Chipleader called with the nuts, and boom, he was done. The next guy, decides he's gonna try and push with A-8 on a board of K-Q-J!!! Against a set, that was no good. So a guy with 10 chips, nearing the end, DID NOT PLAY A HAND, manages to secure 30th place and $132. What a disgrace.

What I noticed about the majority of the players was that they had little to no experience playing in this spot. I played really well and doubled up when KK beat down K-J, when someone decided to call my re-raise for all my chips (and 80% of his stack).

I was 5th out of 15, the blinds just go up to 500-1k, I have a decent stack of 22k when the following happens.

I get AA in midpos and it's folded to me. I pop it to 2k and change (to give me an even 20000), and the BB calls. The flop is Qc - 4d - 3h. BB checks, and I bet 2k. He waits until the timelock goes to 0, and pushes all in, I call, and he shows the almighty 2-2. 5 on the turn gave him outs, and 6 on the river gave him the win. If my family wasnt in the basement watching a movie, chairs would've been thrown. As a result, I pretty much had to shut my mouth.

With 10k, still plenty of hope, I push with 3-8 UTG and make the BB fold A-Q (Nice laydown buddy), make more agressive moves, and knock out the FT Bubble boy (or girl), when they pushed with K-Q for 3k and I called with K-J. J on the river, made me feela bit better.

At the FT, I basically just sat around and waited for people to knock each other out. My 25k stack at the FT pretty much stayed the way it was until it got 4 handed, when I was the severe shortstack. I managed to double up with A-T vs A-K, my T hitting the turn causing a very angry camper. That double up helped me survive as 4th place couldnt survive a A-K vs QQ race. We were now 3 handed, and my stack was 60k, still weak compared to the 100k stacks that 1st and 2nd had. A chop was offerred by Chewy, still raging over the beat I gave him. We both said no. Well maybe I should've said yes.

I pick up A-6 on the button and raise it up to 6k (blinds at 1k-2k), Chewy calls in the BB. Flop comes As-8s-10c. I bet 7k and Chewy calls. Turn is the 6c, and he checks and I bet again. Turn is the spade I was dreading and he puts me all in, but by then, the pot is too big, I would've only had 15k left, and I made a crying call for the lose. He had 7s9s for the Flush and the Straight. I was never ahead. Oh well.

So all in all, I wasted $162 on the tourney that was out of my bankroll, $96.50 on a $3 rebuy which I dont think I will ever match, and..........

A decent 3rd Place Cash

So all in all, it turned out quite well. I'm still looking for my first online win since Christmas. They really werent lying when they said a win only comes by once every couple years...

PS. To the few that inquired about the PXF, the deal is off. I dont want to get in trouble for giving my pw to others. I stand by my word that it is a great investment and it is NOT (I repeat NOT a waste of money).

*waits for his endorsement monies*