Poker Blogs

Dear LP.net,

I think it's just not right that I've never formally introduced myself to the community and I've been floating around the site for about six months now. So here goes...

I'm Jin, a senior majoring in finance at from quaint state school in the deep south (you know, the one going to the BCS game this January). I started playing poker when I was in high school with some of my friends for 1-3 dollar tourney style games. When I got into college a couple years ago, I started playing play money on PSTARS and was rolling around 3 million in play chips =)

I only began playing real money this year, though. It was a glorious day in June when I discovered epassporte and made my first deposit of 50 dollars. Of course I had no idea what bankroll management was, so I sat down at a 25NL table and donked my way up to $120 in a couple of days before I lost it all in a couple of hands on 50NL. By the way, this was when I went home to Korea over the summer...

Several months and going broke multiple times later, I finally settled at 10NL with a ~200 bankroll. I couldn't really play consistently over long sessions because of school and everything, but now that school's out, my goal for the break is to do some disciplined sessioning to finally see some material gains with my bankroll.

By the way, starcraft is another HUGE interest of mine. Whenever I have a losing session, I invariably blame variance and take time off to play on iccup(D+/C-) and usually end up humiliating myself on that as well. And when I lose at starcraft (often), I just immediately switch back to poker. It's a sick sick cycle that has drained any trace of hope out of my college career... and I had such a great shot at this school thing too, coming in with a full ride + room&board + 5k yearly allowance =O

...but now I'm on the verge of losing it all, so I have this winter to basically figure out if I have a shot at excelling at poker. I think an appropriate place to draw the line is the 0 dollar line in my bankroll. If I go broke one more time over the winter, I'll basically suck it up and finish up school as best as I can, take the GMAT, get into grad school, and quit internet poker forever.

Anyways, I would be extremely grateful to have someone coach me on both poker and/or starcraft... as I've pretty much gotten here by myself and don't really know where I stand, or if I have a shot at this thing at all. If you see my post or any of my hands, please please at least leave a comment so I can check back and see where I tend to make mistakes and stuff. Thanks!

Have a great winter break,

Jin


Comments (9)       read entire blog

so far ive been playing a ton of 25nl fr at stars. im nearing the platinum level and i plan to get the 50$ bonus every time. after 14k hands won 300 usd so im nearing my goal of 60bi for 50nl fr. i hope by that time i can sustain a nice winrate there coz i plan to play nonstop from hereon. well at least 3 to 4k hands a day to reach supernova by june 12tabling fr. variance at fr is kinda better than 6max which kinda tilts me at times at stars.


Comments (2)       read entire blog

Just thought I'd remind you guys that me > you.

Anyways, I will be going to New Mexico to visit family for the holidays... going to bring my laptop so I can play poker and DOTA and watch all my downloaded shit. I'm willing to put some money on the line for DOTA games... Something small like $5 or $10 a game.

Since I withdrew all my money from FTP after my win at the Daily Double A I deposited $50 on stars and have been grinding low-stake SNGs and I'm almost at $200... I'm going to start playing the $3R MTTs and work on my game.

By the way, how come my fucking hands don't show up when I post them? Goddamn fascists.


Comments (6)       read entire blog

watch denno coil. shit is DOPE!!!! it's about hackers and stuff.


Comments (3)       read entire blog

http://www.liquidpoker.net/user_pictures/beebcf24eeba4f4699c427c23affd643.jpg


Comments (6)       read entire blog

Rough start this week anyways sticking to my rules and not using more then the set percentage of my BR has been a challenge but i think it has made me a more patient player waiting for hand to come instead of trying to bully people random bluffs. I forget until I hit NL25+ i need to jut play my hand and not to bluff these people who have no idea that there is a fold button. I just need to remember the next time I play cards will be just as random 5 minutes from a bad beat or 5 hours from a bad beat. Stay focused the cards will come downswings happen but so do heaters.

Kupo!

BR at 107


Comments (0)       read entire blog

So Im at doomers house visiting and balling for a week. We went to play live poker in Daytona, he staked me a buy in, wich is 100 for 1/2NL, cuz Im a nit and I didnt wanna risk my trip money. I ended up with $650 after 100 hands with things like, 55 vs AA in 356, and JJ vs 44 on JK4, and AA vs KK vs QQ on 684 lol I RUN GOOOD SHIP IT.


Comments (2)       read entire blog

Start off this blog post by posting the results of the session: -$2300

And I've never had so much fun dumping that kind of money off. I sat down last night at around midnight at the 5/10 at the Wynn and saw that two people were playing heads-up, so I sat and made it a 3 handed game. The guy to my right was in a business suit and talking / acting like a retard (whatever) and the other player was a cute blond girl sitting with 2k+, so immediately I'm thinking the following: Short handed + Vegas Live Players + NL1000 = Ship the bank ez.

First hand I play, the guy to my right limps in the SB so I raise with the good ol' 87o, he calls. Flop comes J-5-3, he checks and I make a standard c-bet. He insta check-minraises, so at this point I'm like eh whatever and fold. He shows like 97o, and was like kind of chuckled while saying "All these young kids think they can just play so aggressive"... so I kinda just smile and ignore him. Two hands later that same guy raises on the button and I reraise to $120 with JJ. He flat calls. The flop comes 7-7-6, and I bet $240 and he thinks for a little bit and calls. At this point I'm putting him on mostly a float or some weaker pocket pair. Turn comes a 3, and I check to him with the intention to check-raise. He bets $100... odd!?! It was slightly alarming that he made this smallish bet but I decided to stick with my game plan and made it $400. He insta shoved for $200 more and I just rolled my eyes and called. He shows 54o and stacks me... then the floor guy comes over and tells the guy to move to the main game (while he's stacking my chips obviously) and so he says something along the lines of "Come on man! Is there anyway I can stay here? This table is so easy!" ... And I'm thinking 'OK MORON!' but if you know me I kinda just smiled and was like whatever. So the floor guy pulls the idiot from our 3 handed game and I find myself heads-up vs the cute blond girl who was sitting with a lot of money. So instantly I'm loving life because heads-up is my thing, so we start playing and 2 mins into the match she 3 bets me. I'm like wtf!?! So I fold... then like 5 hands later I raise from the button and she 3 bets again. Whaaaaat is going on!!?! You are a live player in vegas and you are 3 betting me!?! Wtf this is no good! So the very next hand I 3 bet her and she folds then I raise the button and bam again another 3 bet. So finally I'm like "Ok, you play online a lot huh?" and she smiles and says "Yup!" ... Sick life... what looked to be a clueless blond tourist was actually an online grinder. So we play heads-up for over an hour chatting about random things, and finally the floor guy pulls her from our table to move her to the main game.

At this point I went to go check out the Chinese poker game that FrinkX was playing. They were playing $20 a point with royalties (some hands can get up to $500 with royalties), so I was trying to learn what was going on. Lisa (RaSZi's girlfriend for those of you who don't know) was also sitting at the table and informs me that the blond girl I was playing heads-up against was a friend of Daniel Alaei's and that she gets backed / taught by him. That explains a lot, since Daniel Alaei is like a super live sicko mind reading telepath. 20 mins later the floor guy tells me that there is an open seat in the main game so I hope back in and play some more. I fold like 8 hands in a row then I pick up AK suited and raise. I got 6 callers (including the idiot in the business suit who stacked me earlier) and the flop came K-3-4 w/ 2 spades. It was checked to me and I bet 200 into a 250 pot, and the idiot in the business suit insta made it 600 to go when action got to him. Everyone folds back to me so I jam for $700 more and the guy in the business suit snap calls and tables K9o. Turn and river brick for him and I get what I lost to him back + $300 more. Poker so ez. So eventually I got to talking to another young kid at my table who told me he was a Cardrunners member, so we get to chatting about online poker and it turns out he plays 3/6 and 5/10 on Absolute.

Camill (the cute blond chick that I was playing heads-up against) joined in on the conversation as well as this other young guy who seemed to play online a little too. She ends up losing a couple pots to some random donks at the table and gets frustrated so she asks the table if they would want to do a $100 hand in the blind, but we couldnt get the dealer to run the hand since half the table didn't agree. So Camill purposed another idea to me and the two other guys, and added in a prop called Dueces where we each picked a different suited duece (2) from the deck and if your duece flops, everyone in the prop had to pay you $100 each. One of the young guys added a sleeper rule, so if you didn't call out your prop before the river was dealt, you slept the prop (won't get paid for the prop). Obviously I warned the other 3 that I run infinitly good in these prop bets, and picked the Duece of Diamonds as my prop card. Naturally, the duece of diamonds flops two hands after we set up the game, and ofcourse as usual I'm not looking at the flop and my head is somewhere off in la-la land, so when the river got dealt on that hand everyone at the table started laughing that I just slept my prop. Standard. 25 minutes later, my duece flops again... and this time I'm playing in a big hand where I was forced to laydown 2 pair to this super tight/passive nit. So I fold the pot, and the dealer picks up the flop, and everyone laughs at me again for sleeping my prop. At this point I realize how -EV it is for me to be playing props since I'm like never paying any attention to it. No worries though, as 5 minutes later my duece flops yet again and this time I'm totally 100% aware of the fact so I let out this loud "SHIP THE MONEYS!!!" And I'm pretty sure they heard me at the blackjack tables.

A little while later Lyric sits at my table, and is playing his standard tight/solid style. So I raise to $40 with QQ utg, and get flat called directly behind me, and Lyric pops it up $160 in the cut-off. I asked for a chip count and he had $1500 total at the start of the hand. At this point I'm totally clueless as to what to do since Lyric has to know my raising range UTG isn't exactly wide (although it's not really close to premium either) and he plays a ton more full ring than I do (I almost never play full ring). So I ended up flat calling and the guy behind me flat calls. Flop comes 4-8-9 w two spades and I check to Lyric who now bets $500... and at this point he can probably figure out my hand is TT-QQ, which is a big problem since his bet screams "I want to play for stacks". So I agonize for like 5 minutes and finally ended up folding. The flat caller behind in insta-ships it in and Lyric rolls his eyes and is like "I guess I call". The flat caller behind me had 98o and Lyric tables AJs in spades. River spade, ship it to Lyric. My roommate sits down at the table about an hour later, (if you don't know that's Marshall28) and he is raising a lot of hands so naturally I fuck with him like I always do and start 3 betting him. Then we play this one funny hand where he raised to 50 utg, and I flat called KQdd on the button. The flop came 2-5-7 w/ 1 diamond and 2 spades and he made a standard c-bet so I decided to float him here. Turn was gin for me with the Q. He bets 3/4 pot and I tank for like 2 mins and then call. River is an ace (all flush draws miss), and he shuts down and checks so basically I realize he has some pair like 66 88-JJ or like 87 or something of that hand strength nature. So I count up the pot and see that it's $600+ in there, so I decide to value shove all-in for $1200+ trying to give off representing a busted flush or something since he has a pretty horrible habit of trying to make insane bluff catches, and has a real hard time folding...anything. So he tanks for a little bit, crys "sick" and then folds 88, thinking I have the absolute nuts or something, and I show him my hand and told him I was value shoving. This new guy at our table ends up seeing this hand and has this odd look on his face like "wow these kids are crazy". So naturally, an orbit later I pick up AA on the button, this new guy raises to $40, Lyric calls in the cut-off, I make it $160, the new guy fiddles with his chips a little bit (had a real unsure look on his face) then called and Lyric folded. Flop came 7c-9s-Qc, and the new guy checked. I bet $280 and the new guy made it $700. So I think for a minute then ship the rest of the money in, and the new guy gets this sick look on his face, thinks for another minute before he realizes he's pot committed with T9cc. Turn was 6c (sick life) but I had the Ac in my hand for the redraw. River bricked and poof, there goes my stack.

Camill was trying to get the floor guy to give her and I a dealer to play a fun heads-up freezeout but the Wynn was short on dealers at 6am, so she asked if I wanted to go to the Venetian which wasn't a very appealing idea at that hour of the morning, so I think we are going to play at the Venetian tonight (and by tonight I mean 2am onwards) and try and get a heads-up table going. Head to Venetian tonight if you want to see an epic showdown. :D


Comments (11)       read entire blog

Since my game has been steadily deteriorating in the last 2 months, I've decided I need a break. But after only 2-3 days without playing I feel I'm going insane, I've decided to start playing. I came up with a challenge. I'll start playing 50c-1$ and will need to win 20 buyins to go to the next level. That means 100 buyins to be able to play higher than 5-10. This will definitely keep me busy in the next month. I intend to post every single mistake and comment on it, this will definitely keep me focused.

I'm about finished with my first article, I have to restructure it a bit and I'm still not sure if I want to add a few things or leave them for another article.

So, im off to play 100NL.. ;]


Comments (8)       read entire blog

Sup yo:

Been running really badly lately (check my posted hands from the last week if you're bored... or if you're bulimic and need something to make you throw up).

Turned around a bit tonight when I ran good en route to a 2nd place finish in the $55 25k gtd for $10,100 and change. Thanks to everyone for their support leading up to, and at the final table.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j104/bxdiamondz2/december16.jpg




Comments (8)       read entire blog

so i'm playing in the 3k gtd again on rednines, and i'm playing pretty nitty, only played a couple hands in like 40 minutes. got some suited cards, and i figure well, i haven't played a hand in hella long..so why not...and i end up losing the hand for all my chips...grrrrr. happens at least once every session i play


Comments (0)       read entire blog

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9019/sm3pleshootoutev6.jpg

o_omx (Torreon) ship the ticket =]

Special thanks to F4Zi who made this possible. He lead me throughout the whole final table. =)


Comments (0)       read entire blog

obv


Comments (4)       read entire blog

Submitted by : Sheitan

PokerStars Game #13911947390: Hold'em No Limit ($0.05/$0.10) - 2007/12/16 - 22:51:49 (ET)
Table 'Heze II' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: rocketsteph ($25.10 in chips)
Seat 2: pandaZERO ($8.95 in chips)
Seat 3: Zorbacs ($13.80 in chips)
Seat 4: Achou ($36.60 in chips)
Seat 5: fazzila ($17.40 in chips)
Seat 6: Bujeff ($10.40 in chips)
fazzila: posts small blind $0.05
Bujeff: posts big blind $0.10

Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Achou
Zorbacs said, "pour une fois javais une main"
rocketsteph: folds
pandaZERO: folds
Zorbacs: raises $0.20 to $0.30
Achou : calls $0.30
fazzila: folds
Bujeff: folds

Flop(Odds) (Pot : $0.75)

   
Zorbacs: bets $0.30
Achou : calls $0.30

Turn(Odds) (Pot : $1.35)

   
Zorbacs: bets $1.50
Achou : raises $2.50 to $4
Zorbacs: calls $2.50

River (Pot : $9.35)

   
Zorbacs: checks
Achou : bets $32 and is all-in
Achou said, "je bluff call"
Zorbacs said, "ta quoi"
Achou said, "AK"
Achou said, "spades"
rocketsteph said, "lol"
Zorbacs said, "c mon dernier 10 niaise pas"
Achou said, "jte niaise pas"
rocketsteph said, "no ball"
Zorbacs: calls $9.20 and is all-in

Showdown
Achou : shows (a straight, Eight to Queen)
Zorbacs: shows (two pair, Queens and Eights)
Achou said, "LOL"
Achou collected $26.40 from pot

Summary
Total pot $27.75 | Rake $1.35
Board  
Seat 1: rocketsteph folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: pandaZERO folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Zorbacs showed and lost with two pair, Queens and Eights
Seat 4: Achou (button) showed and won ($26.40) with a straight, Eight to Queen
Seat 5: fazzila (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: Bujeff (big blind) folded before Flop

I really ran poorly today but it doesn't bug me very much cause I feel like I made less mistakes in this session than any I have played in the last week. Nothing went my way but I made sure to lose very little on the bad hands. Even made a decent laydown which you can see below my PT stats. Nothing huge since I had kicker trouble, but I actually put him on 22 before folding and was happily proven correct.

http://www.smiteam.net/uploads/294General-12-16-07-NL50-1stSesh.jpg

I know the stats aren't pretty, but I have excuses! My PFR was pretty low for 2 reasons. Mainly I was on very loose tables which lead to two things: First, I tightened up my PFR from the SB, especially w/ 1 person limping in. I usually raise from the SB vs 1 limper if I'm going to play, but I wonder if that's been a leak by getting into raised pots with decent hands OOP. Second, I got bad seats and had very loose players to my left on all tables, so I cut down on my blind stealing significantly.

Anyway, here's my best laydown of the session:

Submitted by : k2o4

POKERSTARS GAME #13910756637: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/12/16 - 21:49:16 (ET)
Table 'Magdalena' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: k2o4 ($51 in chips)
Seat 2: scampbe11 ($27.20 in chips)
Seat 3: Don Poka ($23.60 in chips)
Seat 4: Wii_fund ($63.65 in chips)
Seat 5: waynecameron ($49.95 in chips)
Seat 6: stackinkids ($124.95 in chips)
stackinkids: posts small blind $0.25
k2o4 : posts big blind $0.50

Holecards
Dealt to k2o4
scampbe11: calls $0.50
Don Poka: folds
Wii_fund: calls $0.50
waynecameron: calls $0.50
stackinkids: folds
k2o4 : checks

Flop (Pot : $2.25)

   
k2o4 : bets $1.75
scampbe11: folds
Wii_fund: folds
waynecameron: raises $3.25 to $5
k2o4 : raises $10.25 to $15.25
waynecameron: raises $34.20 to $49.45 and is all-in
Wii_fund said, "don't leave"
k2o4 : folds
waynecameron collected $31.15 from pot
waynecameron: shows (a full house, Deuces full of Nines)

Summary
Total pot $32.75 | Rake $1.60
Board  
Seat 1: k2o4 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: scampbe11 folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Don Poka folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Wii_fund folded on the Flop
Seat 5: waynecameron (button) collected ($31.15)
Seat 6: stackinkids (small blind) folded before Flop

Day 5 was also good like day 4. I only played ~1k hands because im feeling not so good and im very tired, but I won nearly 3 stacks.
graph
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/9584/day5graphnl25kl9.jpg

Im to tired now to write more


Comments (0)       read entire blog

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/6806/sanstitre1bb5.jpg

I think i get it now... i'm not a poker genius so why make stupid bluff/moves?
Just playing ABC poker is the key for beginners imo.
Shit happens of course but in the long run ABC poker > bad beats.
1300 hands, never played that long before.
I need a good sleep


Comments (3)       read entire blog

test




Comments (1)       read entire blog

40,877 VPPs collected
2,974 VPPs to go
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3009/day16mr5.jpg
The day started out pretty fun:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/337980 - Undersets - ain't no better way, to start off a day!
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338007 - Stnd. He's Korean and there's a flushdraw on the board (j/k, he's korean but he doesn't seem crazy)
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338009 - 3 (or so) hands after the last one - obv AA no good vs AK.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338021 - I run bad in flips :'( I actually thought this was a HU pot, maybe it's a fold 3 way (HU too?).


http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338033 - Things are turning around :-) Dryest flop ever so I slowplay, on the turn I figure I have the 333 guy coolered and just flat again so I can get another call from the original raiser who is probably drawing dead.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338042 - Uh, ship ship ship
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338066 - Most instant call ever. He might as well have put the cards on his forehead.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338072 - Not sure if river is a c/r or not. I'd played a few hands pretty badly/weirdly vs him so
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338076 - Wee.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338090 - Where is the fold button?????
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338091 - It sure as hell didn't come with this guys software, that's for sure.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338106 - Not with his either, loller.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338131 - Pretty standard but I'm a nit who needs to think about these things
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338155 - Ship the 2 buyin pot (almost 2 buyins anyway).
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/338177 - Finally my calling stationess pays off

I was considering playing 10k hands today and just getting the last 3k VPPs, but eh, not sure if I'll just leave it to tomorrow.. It's nice to quit on a good note and just relax. On the other hand, tables are a lot better on sundays than on mondays.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I accidently sat down at a 2/4 table and minraised UTG, wondering why I only needed to scroll up once to get to 8$ 13bb/100 ez sustainable, of course (lol 16 hands).


Comments (12)       read entire blog

hi guys
since i'm playing on the new site with a better deal (thx to keuner) i am doing very well at nl50 6max
i changed from fr to sh and i think i do very well^^

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9608/graphun2.jpg



Comments (1)       read entire blog