BJLTNYK

still $9 an hour at starbucks! this helps on the side!

0 votes

Comments (21)

So I have a full time job now...FML etc...working about 30 hours a week at Starbucks. But this has changed my poker mindset...I'm no longer desperate to have winning sessions/bink something and my tilting has gone down as a result. Played a pretty long session tonight that wouldn't have been possible even a month ago. Stayed focused the whole time to come through as a winner. Let's see how long this lasts/how far it takes me.



GL ballas
I am now resigned to attempting to kill SSNL

0 votes

Comments (7)

One of my goals for the year was to blog at least monthly to be accountable for everything that happens.

And yeah...January was horrible.

RESULTS:
Online cash games:19542 hands, -$1,448.35
Online MTTs:1 final table, 1 win, +$1,998.94
Online SNGs:19 played, -$74.50
Live poker:DNP
Sports betting:4-8-0, -$13,952

Overall net:-$13,475.91

Have finally realized my sports betting is a problem and I'm actually going to GA for it (insert LOLs here). Haven't played poker since Jan. 14th. Will probably be starting that back up tonight. Need to stick to what I'm good at and stop trying to get rich quick through sports betting. :/

GL dis month yo
Brian

0 votes

Comments (12)

In my last blog I outlined some of my goals for 2010. Some of them were in action tonight as I played a slate of MTTs tonight...as I don't want to be staked again I played a micro mtt slate.

Brag:




gogogogo 2010

brian

0 votes

Comments (7)

2009 was pretty rough overall for me. I was busto a few times and staked for the first 2 times ever. I played pretty awful in online cash games and didn't play nearly enough hands. I'm fucking lazy. I got destroyed sports betting during march madness and never really recovered. I had ok success in online MTTs and actually broke out a lil in live MTTs over a small sample. I had a nice run in my first WSOP Main Event and made my first live final table in a Foxwoods mega stack event.

Final numbers:


Was staked for my 200NL #s and a some of my actual winnings at 100NL. FML I need to play better tho.

Online MTTs: +$13,591.18

Live MTTs: +$6,347.65

Live cash: +$8,347.00

Sports betting: -$27,646.62

Roulette: -$6,202.00

Overall total (counting cash games as breakeven due to stakes): -$5562.79

BOOOO....HISSSSSSSS


2010 goals:
Get better at online cash games ldo
50k hands minimum a month
30 online MTTs a month
20 live MTTs during the year
At least 10 live cash sessions
Play the main event again...this time satting thru to it
Never be staked again
Cut my awful sports betting/roulette habits down substantially
Focus on putting the most effort possible into the whole year and keeping confident that good things will happen as a result

Good luck in 2010 everyone...I'll try and update more this year...hopefully there's more good things to write about

-Brian

0 votes

Comments (8)

my 2009





thank god for FPPs amirite? no clue what im going to grind now...monumentally lost atm

0 votes

Comments (5)

A day off and day 2

I got a good night’s sleep after day 1D. I was exhausted and Tuesday was a day off. I headed over to the Palms for a little bit to meet up the fellow sports betting degens 2p2ers luckybacon and rayschampsin08 (fatdan44). I watched them play BJ and craps for a bit before heading back to the Bellagio to play some roulette and bet on some sports. Dan and I agreed to bet $500 each on a WNBA game which was a slight problem for the Bellagio. The max bet for a WNBA game is $500 so the floor woman had to call upstairs to get permission for me to place 2 separate wagers on the game. I was eventually allowed to after shifting the line a half a point lol. I then had a near crushing experience at the roulette table which saw me have $1800 riding on black in a horrendous martingaling run. Thankfully the ball landed in a beautiful black space and I took it as my cue to go back to my room to relax for the rest of the night.

I came into day 2B with 50525 and the blinds would be starting at 250-500-50. I learned that I would have 2p2 superstar David Sklansky on my table which made me a little giddy. We would only be playing 4 levels this day which was also a small relief.

I arrived to the Rio early once again excited to attempt to accumulate chips. I unbagged my chips and took a walk to meet up with some other 2p2ers. I found thac seated sporting his new green Yankees cap that he would be wearing next to Dan Harrington. In an incredibly socially awkward move I walked up and completely forgot to introduce myself and wished him good luck. Trevor seemed really confused as he wished my good luck back. Guess I was wrong thinking he’d recognize me being facebook friends for like 2 years? …heh. I then walked over and met another sports betting friend and recent FTOPS shipper inyaface which was also cool. I headed back to my table to size everyone up. Sklansky was in the 2 seat and the table chip leader with over 100k was in the 3 seat. I was in the 6 and a nicer older gentleman was in the 7 with a healthy stack as well. In the 8 seat was Rasmus Vogt who had within the month just won a $500 deepstack at the Venetian for over 100k. In the 9 was a middle aged guy who I took to be a fireman from New Jersey iirc. His wife was standing behind him and she was way too good looking for him imo.

250-500-50
Yeah there were no interesting hands. This table was tight as hell and I couldn’t pick up any steam during the first level which was frustrating. The big stack in the 3 seat was doing a ton of limping and I was trying to isolate others whenever he wasn’t in a pot. Sklansky was doing a fair amount of limping as well showing down 66 and 1010 that he limped in EP and checked down to rivers in pots that players clearly had no intention of winning. I called my girlfriend on the break to focus and complain about how my table wasn’t ideal for accumulating. I finished the level with 54875 so I had chipped up slightly.

Fun Sklansky notes:
Midway through the level he pulls out one of those finger things that you brush an infant child’s teeth with. And brushes his damn teeth like no one is looking at him.
He also just stares around blankly…ALL THE TIME. I felt violated any time I caught his eyes looking at me.

300-600-75
Pretty early in the level my first big hand happens. UTG limps and I make it 2500 UTG+1 with AKo. The older gentleman to my left flats and it folds to fireman in the 9. He thinks and makes it 12k. Folds back to me and I think over my options. I hate folding because zomg its AK and I’m an internet player. I’m also not too thrilled about shoving because this guy hasn’t touched a chip all day and I don’t expect him to be squeezing too light ever in his life. He has about 35k behind after his raise and I decide to jam probably due to the frustration I’d been feeling. Then the hand gets more interesting. The guy next to me starts tanking…forever. Nearly 10 minutes pass and he’s still sitting there tanking. The guy in the 9 seat is fidgeting a little bit and he says to me “I KNOW YOU DON’T GOT ACES.” I politely remind him that there’s another player in the hand. Shortly after this exchange the guy next to me folds and fireman takes ~15 seconds before calling all-in. I shrug and flip over AK and he slams his two kings on the felt. He stands up from his chair and starts storming around the table yelling “I FINALLY GOT YOU I KNEW I WAS GONNA GET YOU.” Word? That’s cool I love when people go nuts completely unprovoked. I start thinking about grinding less than 10k chips as the board is unveiled JJ7…7….ACE. I stand up and yell “YES…THAT’S WHY YOU DON’T CELEBRATE BEFORE THE HAND IS OVER.” I usually don’t get excited or yell but this guy had sent me over the edge a bit. He angrily grabs his things and his too hot for him wife and storms off. I apologize to the table and they all understand where I was coming from. The man next to me says he folded QQ. Sick deck.

Our table breaks shortly after and I get moved with ~115k to Tim Phan’s direct left. I don’t know much about his game but remember being impressed with him during his deep Main Event run and remember him being regarded as a tough cash game player. After raising a few pots and taking them preflop Phan and I get involved in a pot bvb.
Phan raises to 1800 and I look down at A10dd and 3 bet to 5k. He takes little time in flatting presumably to own my soul postflop. Flop comes A75ss and I check behind. Turn is a 2s and Phan thinks before check calling 7k. River is a pretty offsuit 10. After he checks I bet 17k and he says nh after paying it off. I’m assuming I 2 outed the river. That pot pushes me up to about 150k and I’m feeling great.

Funny hand at this table…folds to Mickey “Mickey Mouse” Mills in the CO with like 70k and he just open jams. After getting 3 folds he shows the table 1010. Lol wtf? Apparently this dude plays a lot of live MTTs too…one of the dumbest hands I’ve watched.

This table breaks pretty quickly which isn’t too big a disappointment to me and I get moved to my 3rd table of the day. I splash around a little bit and finish the level with 122,100. We go off to the senior citizens dinner break and I refocus and relax for a bit looking to finish the day strong.

400-800-100
A shorter stack opens in the CO and I flat the SB with KJs. Flop comes KK4hh and we get it all in with him having Q3hh. I fade the heart and slide his 50k over to my stack chipping me up to ~170k and getting the momentum right back to me. I win a couple more pots opening A5s and check-raising a gutshot straight flush draw as well as binking an ace on the turn after opening A7s and cbetting a Q high board.

Surprise! My table breaks AGAIN. I take my seat in the middle of the blue section sure that my 4th table of the day will be my last which is a relief. My new table has Annie Duke’s boyfriend Joe Reitman 2 to my right and high stakes mixed game player Thomas Koral to my direct left. Reitman is pretty friendly chatting up the entire table and tweeting like a madman. Koral is tight, observant, and solid but thankfully is severely short stacked the duration of my stay at the table.

I’m raising every other pot to 2300 and the table is letting me. They claimed the person who had that seat before me was doing something similar but ended up spew imploding. I was determined to not do that myself! After losing a small flip 77 < AJs I finished the level with 160,100 entering the last break of the night.

500-1000-100
The table continues to let me dominate now making it 3k every other hand. I couldn’t believe how soft everyone was playing and how face up they were playing. THIS was a Main Event table. At one point Annie Duke came over to say hi to her beau and announce her presence to the world…uh thanks.

The level didn’t really have many interesting hands. Crazy euro opens in HJ to 2500. Tight guy next to me jams 17k. I find AKs in the BB and make it 50k total. Euro tank folds what I believe he said were two tens and I hold v. AQo. I c/r a few flops when people were clearly FOS and cbet when someone happened to flat my open. I finished day 2B with 226,700 putting me in great chip position before the whole field would combine two days later for day 3. Another easy night’s sleep waited.

0 votes

Comments (2)

x-posted from 2p2...tl;dr...this is part 1 which is through the end of day 1. If there's any interest I'll continue writing.


Goodness…where to begin? I was offered a stake ~3 weeks prior to the Main Event to play and given I was pretty busto at the time I jumped at the opportunity. I quickly booked a week in Vegas at the Bellagio and bought round trip tickets for me and for my girlfriend to visit me the second weekend. Neither of us had ever been to Vegas and we were both quite excited. I’d been wanting to play the Main Event since Moneymaker on TV and this was going to be my chance.

A little about me…22 years old from NYC. Awful SSNL cash game grinder with enough live experience to feel comfortable. Recently former roommate of MTT superstar nutshot2. The largest buy in MTT I had ever played prior to the Main was a 3k deepstack at Borgata. The amount of the buy in was a little overwhelming but not playing on my dime eased much of the nerves. I was ready to go. I was planning on flying in early morning on Sunday the 5th and playing day 1D on Monday. Rumors of caps had me worried I might have to play day 1C on little rest but I was ready to play regardless.

I spent the 4th of July boozing with my girlfriend and her brothers and their friends. All I could think about was Vegas and the ****ing Mirage. Everyone had a ton of questions for me. Unfortunately I ended up slicing my foot open playing wiffleball barefoot resulting in a 1 inch gash on the bottom of my foot that would require stitches. Being that I am one of the unemployed masses…I had to bear the pain/bleeding for a week in Vegas. Limping around was not fun.

I got to Vegas ~10 AM Vegas time Sunday morning and headed directly to the Rio to meet my staker and register after dropping my bags off at Bellagio. He directed me to the shorter registration line where I chatted up the structure with Gabe Thaler. He began to talk crap about anyone who sold percents of themselves in the Main Event. Cool. I ended up getting a seat for 1D in the Miranda room. I headed back to my room to relax and try to focus for the next day.

I got to the Rio early on Monday both excited and nervous. I did the typical donk crap like taking pictures of the poker room and having the dealer take a picture of me with my chips. Whatever…it was my first Main Event. My day 1 table didn’t break the entire day and this was its breakdown:
Seat 1: Random
Seat 2: 2p2er TheCamel
Seat 3: Irish 2p2er
Seat 4: David Oppenheim and his ridiculous watch
Seat 5: Bad young Italian
Seat 6: Me
Seat 7: Gigantic nit with wife on the rail
Seat 8: Tough Frenchman with a FT this year
Seat 9: derek8
On paper it didn’t seem like an ideal day 1 starting table but I was ready to accumulate chips nonetheless. On to some poker content!

50-100-0
Camel limps in EP and I check option in BB with AJo. Flop comes AKJr and after c/ring flop I get 3 streets of value and chip up to 35k pretty quickly. After I led the river, Oppenheim asked the 5 seat to lean back so he could stare me down…heh. Ended up finishing level 1 with 38,175 after misplaying one hand v. Oppenheim where he raised button and I flatted BB with K10. Checked thru to the river on a 1035A4 board and I led-called and lost to his 22 and felt like an idiot.

100-200-0
I raise J7ss in HJ and the BB (Seat 1) flats. Flop comes Axx with one spade and he calls my cbet. I check behind on the rag spade turn. River spade and he leads 1200 and calls a raise to 3500 and proudly turns over AJo and looks baffled by me having a flush. Oppenheim just gives me this long stare as I’m stacking the chips and says “Oh I understand now.” I give him an orly? and he says yes and that he and I are “going to work it out.” OK Opie whatever you say.

Opie limps in EP as he has done a few times and I raise 109ss next to act to 800. BB flats and Opie limp reraises to 3000. He’s about 80k deep at this point after stacking the awful Italian between us. I call because I hate folding and the BB folds. Flop comes Q9x with the x being a spade. Opie bets 3500 and I flat. Turn is the pretty 8 of spades. Opie checks and after a little deliberation I check behind. River is the Qs and Opie bets 7k. I go through flatting and raising in my head and eventually make it 20k with 13k behind prepared to puke if he jams. He tanked for ~5 minutes before eventually folding. The second break came shortly after and I finished the level with 59475 extremely happy with my play.

150-300-0
After shooting up to 80-90k quickly, Oppenheim slowly began bleeding chips off. He claimed to be playing on 0 sleep after a long high limit session. He said he had to be persuaded to play the event and was ready to get back to the cash games. Losing AK to a short stacked derek8s AQ didn’t help. A few times he seemed noticeably frustrated and a little tilty.

When I play live for too long or even online for that matter I’m due for a pretty giant spazzout and this level was time for my first. These spazzouts are why I was something like 1-20 lifetime in live MTTs after cashing my very first one. Irish 2p2er opened in EP and I called with 44 in LP. Raised his cbet on a K high board to 3k which he took his time before flatting. On a blank turn he surprised me by check raising my 5k bet to 15k. He owned my life with false tells this hand and I chuckled inside at my first awful spazzout.

Last hand before dinner break I raised bvb blind which I learned I could do because he was an awful nit who either folded or folded to my cbet. He flatted and I took a peek at my Q7o. Flop came 553 and I cbet 1200. He raised to 3500 clearly FOS and tired of me running him over bvb. After about 30 seconds I made it 7k and he turbo mucked. Nice try sir. Ended level 3 and entered the dinner break with 52675. I was exhausted still feeling the effects of the early cross country flight the day before and headed back to Bellagio for a quick bite and a chance to lay down for a little bit. I wasn’t that thrilled at having to come back and play 2 more levels.

150-300-25
Derek8 raises utg I flat 107cc otb and the BB comes alone too. I end up triple barreling the BB on 98xx9 and he tank calls the river with 97s. That expert move cost me 13k which was an excellent start to the last 2 levels of the night.

Midway through the level TheCamel who was still a random to me asked me what my Stars name was (I was wearing the Stars zip up). I told the table my confusing SN and Oppenheim asked what BJ stood for. I called him a dirty old man and hilarity ensued. I had undercover sleuthed that seat 9 was derek8 because I overheard him telling a friend on the rail about shipping a particular mtt recently so I had nutshot do some detective work which was fun.

A little frustrated with my play to start the night I raise JJ UTG+1 and Oppenheim defended his BB. Flop came A96 and I checked behind not looking to get check raised what might be the best hand. Turn was the incredible jack. Oppenheim check raised the turn to 3500 and I had a decision between jamming and calling and getting it in on the river. I felt like he had a hand but wasn’t sure if it was one that could call a shove. He only had about 13k left behind and I ultimately ended up jamming. He tanked for nearly 10 minutes and I chatted him up which was probably a mistake but he was a nice guy and I was a little delirious from lack of sleep. He felt like he was behind but was ready to play the cash games so he picked up his ridiculous sunglasses and wad of cash and put his gaudy watch back on and stacked with A6dd. He didn’t river an ace and I knocked out the pro. Where’s my bounty and t-shirt? I was back up to 58150 after the hand…

…so naturally it was time for another spazzout! The new player on my right hadn’t been there long but had already been quite active both raising and 3 betting a decent amount. He raised and I flatted 44 so of course I had to play it like the nuts again. Flop came Q9x and it went check/check. Turn 8 and he check raised my 1300 to 3k. After a little thought I 3 bet to 7500. He wasted little time in making it 19k. Cool I play really well and read people really well. I laughed inside again and mucked wondering why I spazzed out with 44 twice. I finished the level at 39775.

200-400-25
Only one hand of note. I raise 43o in MP to 1200 and the nit to my left flats. The flop is the super dumb 443. I check expecting him to fire with an overpair and he checks behind to my surprise. Turn is a 5 and I bet 1500 which he quickly calls. River is a 9 and I think about how to get max value and look bluffy. I decide to bet 7k given how badly I had been running him over and after a little thought he called. Whole table seemed a little shocked with my hand but whatever ship the rungood. I ended day 1 with 50525. I was happy to make it out of day 1 and looked forward to a night’s sleep and a full day off before day 2B.

Fun derek8 notes
At some point in I don’t remember what level he flatted the BB against the supernit to my left and led all 3 streets on the 10968J board before the nit jammed the river. Derek proceeded to berate the dude for a good 15-20 minutes for jamming without the nuts claiming he could easily have led 3 streets with KQ and there was no way the guy had KQ. He said he had QJ and that he didn’t think Derek had anything which made him explode even more. Word…let’s berate the awful fish.

During the ante stages Derek was anteing most of the time with 100 chips to get 3 greens back and build a bigger stack. One dealer took exception to this and got into a verbal argument with him over it. After it seemed like it cooled down and we were in the middle of a hand, she randomly belts out “FLOOR ON 302.” Whole table was shocked and the floor man was like wtf why is she wasting my time with this. In fairness to Derek she was a terrible dealer but he just loved arguing with her.

Token donk dealer take my picture plz pic:


Oppenheim and his ridiculous watch and wad of cash:

0 votes

Comments (7)

Still in with 664k after day 4. Basically doubled up about 30 minutes in and broke even the rest of the day. Played with Lou Diamond Phillips and JC Tran most of the day. Lou is a surprisingly tough player for an actor I've gotta say and JC Tran is super sick as well. Dennis Phillips got moved to our table for a little also but bled off 100k pretty quick before our table broke. Got moved to Hac Dang's table(trex313) to end where I basically did nothing and broke even there too.

Pretty excited to still be in. GL everyone else still in.

Brian

0 votes

Comments (7)

Started the day with 50,525...opening table was nitty as hell and really awful to accumulate on overall. Shortly after the first break I get AKo in v KK for ~45k apiece (ups)...guy starts storming the table and yelling "I GOT HIM...I KNEW I'D GET HIM...I GOT HIM"...J77JA...chuss. I uncharacteristically yelled out loud and told him that's why you don't start celebrating before the hand is over. He stormed off with his gf/wife that he had no business being with (there's sooo much of that in Vegas). I apologized to the table for my yell...that dude just pissed me off trying to rub it in...it's not like we had some history or anything either he just spazz started taunting...whatever.

Table breaks and I get moved to Tim Phan's direct left. Not much happens for a while til it folds to Phan on the SB...he makes it 1800 at 300-600...I make it 5k with A10dd which he thinks and flats. Comes A76ss and I check behind. Turn 4s...Phan check calls 6600. River is the beautiful offsuit 10. Phan counts out his stack and check calls 17k with ~20k behind. Good pot...not sure what he had.

Table breaks again...get moved OOP to a pretty solid young guy who I'm pretty sure plays HSNL online. He calls one of my double barrels with Q high down with 2nd pair...fun to be owned. Just after dinner I flat a ~27k stack CO open to 1800 with KJs in the SB. Flop comes KK4hh and he bet 3bets AI on the flop with Q3hh and I hold. BB said he folded K6...asdf. This table also breaks pretty quickly.

Last table of the night finds me with Joe Reitman...former husband of Shannon Elizabeth and current BF of Annie Duke. Also on my direct left was a way short Tom Koral...high stakes online mixed games specialist...2 FTs at this year's series. He was so short he had like no playback ability. I proceeded to run my 170kish to 226,700 to end the day mainly just opening 3-4 an orbit and getting played back at by noone.

ez game so far. GL to everyone else still in.

Brian

0 votes

Comments (11)