Challenege

I haven't been playing very much poker recently and the poker I have been playing has been at mohegon sun. This and the usual issues have caused me to stop updating this blog.

Recently something new has come up and I figured I might try to give this blog another shot as a means of chronicling the next few weeks.

I went home for the holiday weekend and my dad challenged me to a little weight loss competition. Both of us need to drop some weight and I have been trying to make it happen for some time now without success. Hopefully this little challenge will be the motivation I need.

There are always going to be excuses for why we dont diet or work out or try to get in shape. I have been using college as an excuse for myself for quite some time. Its hard to find time to go to the gym when Im always tired or caught up in schoolwork. Its hard to eat right when people are ordering out and your drunk and hungry. Its even worse when your stoned and just really want some bad for you food.

These excuses and pressures are never going to go away. School stresses will be replaced by work stresses and If i try hard enough Im sure I can always find a good reason to not go to the gym. Hopefully that ends today.

I am going to try and lay out a series of goals for myself.

1. No ordering food.

If this proves too hard I might change it to allow for a chance to order food on the weekends but really there is no excuse for this behavior on weekdays. I can save money and eat better by preparing food for myself.

2. No junk food in the house.

I have gotten into a groove where if theres a bag of chips around and im watching tv or doing work I will eat it. The thing is, just thinking about that bag of chips will make me hungry. I need to eliminate these temptations from ground zero and just cut it out.

3. Go to the gym

I have a free to use gym and need to take advantage of it to shed some pounds and get myself in some kind of shape. my goal right now is to go and do cardio work (bike/treadmill) for 30-60 minutes every other day and take it from there. If I can make myself go more frequently fantastic but I dont know how realistic that will be.

I have been overweight my whole life and have tried dieting numerous times. I know that I will probably break my food rules and the food I cook is not going to be the healthiest food for me but I think thats ok. As long as I work out regularly and make a conscience effort to eat a little better I think I should see results.

Lets see.

HR Derby Live Blog 2.0

8:11 I know i haven't posted in forever...sorry. Im not sure where I want to go with this blog in the near future.

Nevertheless, for the second year in a row I am liveblogging the HR Derby!

I am again facing off against my buddy Toots and we each have drafted four of the competitors to batt off in a number of categories. We drafted last night and I ended up with

Papi,

Ramierez,

Holiday,

and Young.

Toots has

Cabrera,

Wells,

Swisher,

Hart.

Im not terribly confident with my squad, I first picked Papi in what could have been an iffy pick.

Anyways, the five categories include:

Winner of Derby

Most HR in a Round by one batter

Least HR in a Round by one batter

Most HR when combining all squad members

Longest HR

Most HR hit on the 10th out (Golden HR)

Lets get this started!

8:18 Chris Young's up first, lets set a good tone!

He hits one HR after 3 outs and now has 7. Maybe He'll whiff and be a pretty tough beat for the least in a round?

8:21

Chris Young

Total HR's = 1

Golden HR's= 0

Farthest HR= 410ft

Up next is Vernon Wells

8:23 In his first 7 swings Vernon hits zero balls out of the park. One, however, is assisted by a fan and ruled a HR. Alrighty, with 8 outs he pounds a 428ft bomb. lets see if he can crush the golden ball now. Nope, a long drive to left and lands just short of the wall.

Vernon Wells

Total HR's = 2

Golden HR's= 0

Farthest HR= 428ft

Coming up after the break is Corey Hart,

8:31 Corey Hart is the first batter to find a groove. He has 5HR and only one out so far!

8:33 A slight breeze barely carries Harts ball out of the yard. He instantly hits a 464ft bomb and has 9HR with 4 outs! Make it 10! Hart Hart's the first to hit a Golden HR and ends the rd with a total of 13.

Corey Hart

Total HR's = 13

Golden HR's= 1

Farthest HR= 464ft

8:46 Nick Swisher's up next. He starts off strong with 2 quick HRs after an out and then misses 4 times. Swisher busts a 426ft blast followed quickly bt a 440fter. Swisher goes cold and still has 4 for the gold ball. He hits it to deep center and cant get it over the 400ft wall. Hes done.

Nick Swisher

Total HR's = 4

Golden HR's= 0

Farthest HR= 440ft

After the break we have Holiday, Papi, Ramierez and Cabrera. My boys have to hit some blasts and advance themselves to the next round now!

8:53 Ugh. Holliday really couldn't get anything started but just nailed a Golden Ball to get up to 2 hr lets see if he cant get anything going....Theres Another! And 3 in a row! 4! He's into second place now, behind Corey Hart and ends with 5 bombs! With his longest hr at 497 ft! He is now the leader in the Golden ball and longest HR category,

Matt Holliday

Total HR's = 5

Golden HR's= 4

Farthest HR= 497ft

8:59 Papi's up! lets see what he can do! His first good chance did not look like it was going out but it just scoots out of the wall. He follows that up with a nice 440ft jack over the right field wall. Ortiz is hitting well and knocks a 375fter into right field. He now has 4 HR and 3 outs. he needs 2 more to advance. Ortiz keeps hitting them over to right field, some are crushed and some cant quite make it over the wall. He needs one more in the next 4 swings to secure a spot in the next round. Right field again! and we will see Papi again in the next round.

David Ortiz

Total HR's = 8

Golden HR's= 0

Farthest HR= 440ft

9:11 Hanley Ramierez is up now and needs 6 to secure a shot in the final 4 and nails one over the wall in his first swing.

9:17

Hanley Ramierez

Total HR's = 9

Golden HR's= 2

Farthest HR= 472ft

So we're down to the final batter, Miggy Cabrera. He needs a total of 6 HRs to advance. Toots needs him to step up here and help the team. Currently I have 3 of the 4 finalists which would be crushing for Toot's chances

9:30

Miguel Cabrera

Total HR's = 7

Golden HR's= 0

Farthest HR= 476ft

So, heading into Rd 2 we have Cabrera, Papi, Hanley, and Hart in that order.

Currently Holliday has the longest HR at 497 ft

Hart has the most in a round with 13

Young has the least in a round at 1.

Holliday has the most Golden HR with 4

My squad has a combined 23 HRs.

Toots team has 26Hrs.

9:36 In a last second switch Papi is going to bat first to give Cabrera a break. Papi is on a roll and keeps pounding them to right/right-center and has 5 bombs so far including a 476 bomb with only 2 outs...and he curves one just around the pole! followed by another crushed rainbow to give him 7 with 2 outs. lets go Papi!!! Papi manages to crush 13 homeruns tying him for the most HR in one round with Hart.

9:45

David Ortiz

Total HR's = 13 (21)

Golden HR's= 0

Farthest HR= 474ft

9:47 Miggy is up now after a quick rest and lets see what he can do! he needs 7 to catch Hart and have a chance. MIggy hits our first foul HR of the night but is doing well and having a sold round so far. Theres another foul. He might be swinging a tad to early? Miguel ends up with 5 HRs giving him 12 total, not enough to catch Hart and hes done for the night.

Miguel Cabrera

Total HR's = 5 (12)

Golden HR's= 0

Farthest HR= 485ft

9:53 Hanley Ramierez is next and needs 4 HRs to force Hart to take the plate. Hes going to need a few more to actually advance to the finals. Hanley crushes 9 including a 465 foot gold ball! He had 5 straight outs followed by 5 straight HR in this at bat. There goes another gold ball! ANother that goes 454ft to left field! Another to the same spot in left. He is just mirroring Papi! One more HR and hes in the finals for sure. He lines out and finishes with 21 HR. He is tied with Papi.

Hanley Ramierez

Total HR's = 12 (21)

Golden HR's= 4

Farthest HR= 476ft

10:00 Corey Hart has been sitting for about 2 hours. He now needs to come back and smash 8 Home Runs to force a bat off for the finals. Any less than 8 and hes done. His first hit is a line out. Hes going to need to get in some kind of rhythm. Hes missed on 4 now without getting one to go out. Theres his fifth out. Hart needs 8 bombs in his next 5 outs or else hes done. This one makes it to the outfield but cant get out. Here's his 7th out....Hart could make a run at an 0-fer and win the least in a round category. Heres his 8th out. 9th out and this is it. The golden ball isnt going to make it and thats that.

Corey Hart

Total HR's = 0 (13)

Golden HR's= 0

Farthest HR= 0 ft

10:12 Ok, the finalists are Papi and Ramierez. Since they are both mine I am going to win the winner, most team combined, most Golden HR and longest HR (currently held by Holliday with 495ft). If either of the finalists whiff and get zero I'll chop the least in a round which is currently held by Hart. If either finalist smacks 14 homeruns I'll take the most HR in a round bet. Currently that is being chopped. Here we go.

Im going to cease liveblogging now, going to watch the end in another room. Peace.

gametime

running like "god"

Cliffs: Earlier this week full tilt gave me a 100$ bonus to clear. That plus procrastination and noticing that they have 5nl rush led me to playing a decent amount this past week. I brought ye old roll from a low of ~70 to a high of roughly 115 before i landed at 105. Then i started a 900 hand session tonight.

In that 961 hands I got:

AA 8 times

KK 7 times

QQ 7 times

JJ 4 times

AK 8 times

AQ 7 times

It felt like I was getting these hands all the time because i was. I was running the best i have in a long time in terms of simply getting starting hands. Unfortunately my totals won didnt really help the situation. Heres what I won with each hand:

AA +89 bbs

KK -200 bbs

QQ +3 bbs

JJ -80 bbs

AK +23.4 bbs

AQ +20 bbs

Adding these numbers together shows that I lost roughly 143 bbs or $7 with my best hands over this session. I will say that I think i played well this session. I will post a graph and I was trying to work on my "green line" non-showdown winnings. I did a good job of that. I wasnt putting in tons of money and folding and my bluffs were working well. Really the only reason that I lost in the end was a simple section of hands back to back to back. First I ranKK into AA AIP for a large(above 200bbs) pot and then QQ into AA AIP and then very soonafter KK into AA AIp all for large pots all back to back. It was brutal. Dbtoots89 has recently posted about a similar session in which he felt that he ran well but barely won any money. Unfortunately I wasnt able to post a result even that good.

Meh. It felt good to be back at the tables. It felt really good to be picking off bluffs, and stealing some pots. Im going down to florida this week (break) to chill with Dbtoots89 and Jeff , our friend, and it is going to be fantastic. A great week of poker/excitement/debauchery. Im glad that i have a trippple didget online roll again and Im very very pumped to go play some cards and chill with these folks.

Ill leave you all with a graph

Have a good weekend!

rambling

Ive played a lot of poker over the past few years. As far as i know ive improved as a player as time goes by. Ive watched videos, read forums and talked about hands. Hell, one of the kids i played with every single night is now one of the best mtt players in the world and Ive definitely picked his brain and watched him play long enough to pick up some tidbits of information.

This previous summer saw me do pretty well online. After stringing together a couple wins i built my bankroll to the highest its ever been. Then and i went to london and stopped playing very often until i started the propbet with dbtoots which would take a chunk out of my roll. When i returned to the US i really couldnt get anything going. I put in a ton of volume over this past break and i ran deep in my fare share mtts but i couldnt close the deal on anything.

Then i cashed out half my roll to buy and xbox and i was happy to have something tangible with my poker winnings. I can tell my friend who dont play poker that i bought it with winnings and their attitude toward the game changes. They go from, wow you gamble.....to damn you can buy cool things for basically free.

But back to the story, since i bought the xbox my bankroll has simply plummeted. Absolutely nothing has gone well. I lost a survivor football pool in week 17 which would have been an awesome booster. Most recently i managed to give away close to $130 over the course of a few days at rush. the same rush which i had won about $80 just beforehand. All in all over the course of a week i sent my roll from 230, all the way back to the number it was at when i bought the xbox, to a paltry 50 bucks.

A timely victory in superbowl betting put me back up to 90 and i won some money at rush the same weekend. Since then, ive started losing again. The rolls not quite in danger land again, but its surely not in a spot im comfortable with.

Over time, if ive improved one thing about my game is my tilt control. Playing today and getting 2 outed on the river twice and having numerous big hands just run down really wasnt getting to me. Towards the end i was getting pretty upset so i simply quite the game.

The thing ive been trying to get to...is something that has been on my mind today. Maybe i just suck at poker.

My entire "career" has always felt like a continuous downswing. Of course ive had my runs, where ive strung together some mtt wins or cash success but i think the vast majority of my playing has been breaking even or losing Or ill have weeks where i win small win small and then lose huge.

Ive always felt as though Im terribly unlucky. I run really fucking bad. Ask any of the people who have grinded with me....Its not uncommon for me to get 2 or 3 outed in a huge spot of an mtt. But the nagging feeling is that i dont know if its reasonable to blame luck any more. Its gotten to the point where every time i open full tilt im probably going to lose. So whats the fucking point. Clearly i have missed the boat on how to succeed.

Ive won a number of mtts. Ive had final table scores too. But is it more reasonable to assume that those occasions were me getting ridiculously lucky and running well? Am i the donk that people curse from behind their monitor?

I dont know anymore. Id like to think im good at this game. Id LOVE to get to the point where i could win a couple hundred bucks a month playing and create some spare income. But i dont know.

bloggings no fun when youre losing.

and im losing. bad.

Long TIme

So Poker has been plain awful. I cashed out 2/3 of the roll to buy an xbox which has been pretty fun but since then full tilt has decided that i don't deserve to have any fun after withdrawing. I have constantly been running deep in tournies which is great but once the end gets near i run like death in huge spots. Here is one hand that happened today, in the beginning of a 2r. Villain had been openshoving his huge stack on many hands and i was itching for a spot to pick him off. The action ran out He openshoved, i reshoved, and the shortstack called forming a large sidepot.

This pot was for the chip leader position with 400 to go, early in the tourny.

On a different note, I am very excited for the WBCOOP. Im really grateful to stars for putting this event on and hopefully i can turn some of my luck around and win a decent prize.

Im off to grind this 2r....

I raise pre get 3 callers,

bet 555 into 888 on flop, and 750 on the turn putting him all in. brilliant river.

Im going to try to update pretty regularly now that school is back in session and i can get onto a somewhat a consistent schedule