Bad at Poker, Good at everything else. by JonnyCosMo, August 26
Been getting killed in poker since moving into this new place. I swear our internet is cursed. Haven't been playing very well thou so need to fix that. That wasn't the point of this blog thou, I wanted to update and tell everyone that I just beat ElkY in SC2 3 times in a row. I has replays to prove it too!
Ok Ok, and now for epic hands that was played at Palomar a few weeks ago. The game is 20/40 mixed with 5/10 big bet and the rotation of games was Badugi, Triple Draw Deuce to Seven, PLO, and NL Hold'em. Villan in this hand we will refer to from now on as "Pizza Tom". He owns a local pizza shop in San Diego, and has recently picked up poker as a hobby. Note: He has played less than a week of poker before coming in on this particular day.
Hand #1: ($20/$40 Badugi)
First orbit of Badugi and Pizza Tom has never played the game in his life, so we tell him the rules are pretty simple: "You draw 3 times, You want low cards, you want 1 card of every suit, ace is low, and bam you have a badugi!" Pot is 5 way to the first draw, and everyone is drawing atleast 1 card to some that are drawing 3. Oh Badugi is so fun! With one draw left there is about 16 big bets ($640 ish) in the pot with 3 players still left, one being Pizza Tom. Two players draw and Pizza Tom stands pat. First player leads river for $40. Pizza Tom raises to $80, both players fold. Pizza Tom rolls over the and is like "Badugi!" as he scoops massive pot. LOL
Hand #2: ($5/$10 Pot Limit Omaha)
Gordo16 (whos played an extensive amount of PLO / Mixed games, prolly one of the best mixed players in SD) has been the most active on the PLO rounds since he got himself a little stuck. Finally he gets in a heads-up pot with Pizza Tom who once again is still learning the ins and outs of PLO. They get into this one hand on the river the board reads Q-J-7-4-2 with no possible flushes. Pizza Tom has 77XX hand, and Gordo16 has QQXX. Pizza Tom checks river and Gordo pots for $3k. Pizza Tom makes the most ridiculous soul read of a fold after like 10 seconds of thinking!?! Gordo shows him the top set to let him know he was right. This hand sets up the final most epic hand....
Hand #OMG EPIC LOL: ($5/$10 Pot Limit Omaha)
I'll write this hand from Ryan's point of view (Palomar regular who was sitting next to Pizza Tom, and was helping him with the rules to each game. Pizza Tom was showing Ryan is hand each time) Pizza Tom raises UTG to $40, Gordo16 3bets to $150 to try and isolate him. Someone flat calls, and action gets back around to Pizza Tom who repots to like $560. Gordo is sitting deep with him and is already thinking "Oh baby, time to crack aces" as he flats the 4bet. Cold caller folds. When the flop came down , Pizza Tom now leans over and shows Ryan his hand: and asks "Wait so I can only use two cards?" Ryan is like "Yes you can use only 2 of those cards". Pizza Tom proceeds to be like "Oh shit" (as he realizes now that he doesn't have three of a kind 8's) then checks to Gordo. Gordo fires $700 and Pizza Tom doesn't waste too much time before calling. Turn comes so board reads , Pizza Tom checks and Gordo pots it all-in for $2500. Pizza Tom looks back at his hand and again doesn't waste much time before saying "I call, I have a straight" Gordo says "Ug, you must have the AA4X" Pizza Tom then rolls over his 8884 thinking that his lone 4 was making him a straight. Gordo just stares in horror as he rolls over the to see that Pizza Tom had just a pair of 8's which were good at that point (not to mention the 3 blockers to Gordo's straight draw, and 84 to take away the 7 as a 2pair out lol). River bricks and Pizza Tom ships massive PLO pot with pair of 8's. "That would happen to me" say Gordo after the hand as he proceeds to play every hand in the badugi orbit before tilt leaving.
Moral of the story, don't bluff people who don't know the rules to the game
So I don't play on stars anymore but I racked up about 10,000 FPPs before I moved to full tilt poker. I don't really know what to do with them. Does anyone have some recommendations as to store items that might be good to get? Can I use them for anything else? I'm not really interested in the money bonuses cause I don't play on stars anymore.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Worldby XoXthajmanXoX, August 26
Wow haven't blogged in almost forever. I just saw a bunch of people posting movies in their blogs and I just saw this movie and thought I'd post about it.
Honestly I wasn't gonna see this movie. I'm thinking like ok, just another strangely awkward kinda funny Michael Cera movie, which are oddly abundant nowadays. But I promised lil sis I would take her to a movie and it was the only thing playing that didn't suck/she could see.
And dudez, seriously. . .I fucking loved it bad. After watching it for 10 min. you can already tell it was SOTD director. Really quick witted fast paced humor. The comic book style takes some getting used to but only gets better. Probably the most original movie I've seen in a long time. Go see it!
I'm back after having no internet for 2 weeks. That means....more movie recommendations!!!
Green Zone - american army action hero film. was okay for a casual thing to watch, got 7/10 on imdb.
Altered States - suupppper awesome 1980 movie about a scientist who uses an isolation tank and an exotic drug to explore dream states...then makes a revolutionary discovery! why do i always think old movies must be crappy or dull? if you like psudo-science then this is your new fav film
Keys to the VIP - mtv series in which 2 buff hunks are sent into a nightclub and have to get girls' phone numbers. hilarious, interesting and sickening at the same time! if you know any other shows like this (guys trying to win girls in real life situations/competitions) let me know
Audition - japanese horror. A man starts dating a woman who isn't quite what she seems. this was pretty cool.
Death Bell - korean (iirc) horror, a bunch of highschool students and their teachers are trapped in a school and slowly picked off by an unknown killer. also pretty cool.
Ju-On - japanese horror revolving around deaths that occur in a particular house. i thought this had potential, but when it came to it the "shock" scenes were just plain not scarey in the slightest. i wouldnt recommend this. (it was also remade as The Grudge in usa)
One Missed Call (USA, horror) - heeeey i actually liked this! it got 3/10 on imdb? this was a decent film and you should watch it!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant get ahold of the japense version yet
The Perfect Storm - i love storms so i just haadddd to get this movie! it didnt disappoint (my incredibly low storm-loving standards).
Suicide Club (jap, 2002) - hundreds of young kids start killing themselves all over japan and the police try to find out why. totally delivers, a must-watch.
Visitor Q - this, alongside Marebito, is the ultimate in sick-headed japanese perfection. i cannot believe something like this existed without me knowing about it for all these years. DO NOT WATCH THIS WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!! SHE WILL HATE YOU!!!
Marebito - a reporter who likes to film things everywhere he goes experiences some strange things. as above, an absolute must-watch
Assault Girls - short movie (40 mins?) about 4 MMO characters in a super realistic game. dont be fooled by the title, nothing much really happens. you're better off watching hack/sign if you like that kinda thing.
The Karate Kid - weeeee jackie chan looks OLD!!!! heheehe not really :3 its all makeup u kno. this was a cool movie, although not a single peice of epicness in sight. watch it on a rainy day - this is not a jackie movie to run out and buy some beers for.
Pulse - american remake of japanese (korean?) horror Kairo. watch the original, which is fantastic and very scarey. then watch this when you have nothing better to do (and want everything spelled out to you and explained, and then some).
Vampire Hunter D - old but satisfying (and famous) anime flick. even though its old its still entertaining.
Cannibal Holocaust - wow, this is awesome. a handful of american "adventurers" go into the amazon and some things happen. wont spoil it! i cant believe this got 6/10, its a must-watch. very brutal, showing live animals being cut up and also pretty graphic child rape.
The Quiet Family (korean) - a cute family open a lodge in the middle of nowhere, but their lodgers seem to keep accidently dying!! entertaining dark comedy. theres a japanese version of this too im trying to get.
Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer - solid and interesting, about a psychopath who kills people secretly. worth getting.
The Day of the Triffids!!! wow im happy i remembered this one. this was a 2-part remake of the old film/s. the entire world is struck BLIND. to top it all off, killer plants begin to roam the cities. this very modern remake of the classic was decent and fun to watch.
Invasion Earth - this is a 6-part obscure british series that i rememebered verrrry vaguely from when i watched it on TV in 1998!!!! feels awesome finding stuff like that after so long. it follows the efforts of an army base and local town after TWO new alien species are suddenly discovered. this was memorable because of a very dark spooky atmosphere that runs throughout, and has an epic and non-bullshit finale.
So what to recommend? There's a lot of stuff "worth watching" in this batch, but it really depends on your taste and what you feel like.
Absolute must-sees are
Visitor Q
Marebito
Altered States
Cannibal Holocaust
IF YOU CAN HELP ME find torrent or link for My Sassy Girl (Kor) and "The Last Train" (old british series about a bunch of people who wake up after 1000 years to find themselves in post-apocolyptic world)
Blinds 25/50, 10k (200bb) stacks in the copc HU 5.5k event:
flop 865r, his opponent checks, Phillips bets, opponent check-raises, Phillips 3-bets, 4-bet, 5-bet, 6-bet (could've been a shove here, if not, Phillips 7-bet shoved)
Anyway they're both all-in.
Phillips shows TT and says "How big is yours?"
So i'm officialy finished school, i just got my last courses mark on my transcript so i have a bachelor of science in nursing. Yay for me. Still gatta write a Canadian board exam in October to be licensed but no more school. I dont hate school really, i just hate writing essays since i find them so useless and their worth %30 of my grade usually in most courses. Life is good!
Looking to move about $350-370 from Stars to UB. I'm willing to send first if I think you're reputable and I have people who can vouch for me as well. Thanks!
So today's session went a lot better thanks I'm sure partially to luck (thanks JSquids haha), but also no doubt because I applied the advice Steal City, SpasticInk, Almebeast and Carthac gave me. Thanks a lot guys. I really really appreciate advice.
I tried to stop pushing borderline edges and reads post flop when it was unlikely I was gonna get a fold, I tried to stop double barreling when a scare card hit the turn, less fancy 3bets from the blinds, etc etc.
In addition I started opening way more when folded to me in the SB and a bit more when it was folded to me on the button. I probably was pushing it a little bit since I was raising some trashy hands on the button/sb but it seemed to work as most of the time I got folds (I wasn't raising trash in sb against any 50/8 BB's or anything either.) This helped my red line from completely tanking while letting me push my blue line up.
I opened alot more IP, cut my AF in half, 3bet a little bit less, and doubled my att to steal. Hopefully I can keep running good and improving. Any advice or comments always appreciated. Again thanks guys.
Went to Griffith Observatory on Sunday. Previous trips never panned out, as we would get there in the afternoon and the parking situation is ridiculous. We showed up bright and early before the doors opened at 10 AM and managed to get a space in the actual parking lot. From that altitude we were able to gain a beautiful, sweeping panoramic view of LA and smog in its natural habitat. No seriously, it was nice to see some scenery for a change. Some very cool exhibits inside. The pendulum was a bit of a snoozer, but I really liked the interactive displays. A number of cameras and gadgets were not in working order but it didn't detract from the overall experience. We caught two movies in the planetarium; there's a projection overhead and you get to lie back in a reclining chair and listen to the narration. Pro tip: sit at the back, best view, easiest on the neck. The narrator's voice was very strange. Imagine Dory the forgetful fish attempting whale speech, now just say Ellen Degeneres was born in India and has a thick accent.
I found an awesome sweatshirt in the giftshop: an image of Pluto on the front, with a sort of epitaph: "1930-2006: Revolve in Peace", and it was immediately added to the wardrobe.
I tried my hand at $2/$4 8-game over the weekend and broke about even. I am weakest in 2-7 and Razz, I think. I gather these games are more about accurate technique than anything else; I think I need to read up a bit on them. My impression is that 8-game is mainly populated by stud and HORSE players - people who often have no real concept of how to play pot limit and no limit, and they often nit it up for 36 hands and then just spew off their stacks in the last two games of the rotation. I think I would have been down instead of even if there were not so many players in the games who are truly terrible at PLO and NLHE.
Monday and Tuesday I began an experiment of playing my sets as half $25+2, half $15+1. 9 of each during the 3r, and 12 of each the rest of the time. I broke 100k chips in the 3R on Tuesday with 1400 players still left in it, but I managed to spew hard and bust in 800th. I can only blame myself. I caught cards well, and just lost it getting outplayed by another deep stack, when I had no reason to be getting fancy and bluffing, since there tend to be so many spots in the tournament where you can just get all the money in the middle in good shape.
Despite that, I managed to profit about $200 on Monday and $700 on Tuesday, bringing the BR to $3192, after transferring $80 to Carol to get her started at micro stakes limit. (If you see "icanhazdnuts" on Stars, be gentle.) She doesn't seem to handle making mistakes very well, but my style of communication is probably not helping (I have Asperger's). If I can bite my tongue and save comments for after the session, I think she will do better.
It now looks as if I might make Supernova very easily, but that is easy to say when I have not yet had much of a downswing since setting this goal. To complicate matters, I am strongly leaning towards taking two music classes and tutoring students, to be doing something to develop myself as a person, to have some human interaction, and to be some kind of benefit to society. If I am not too ambitious in the number and difficulty of pieces I work on, I think I could have time to put in the volume to make SN, especially at the $25+2/$35+3 level. 14.4K VPP so far this month.
does anyone know if there are decent not so expensive driving schools to learn drifting and stufF?
and before i get flamed for being a poser, or w/e it's just something i like and a hobby i wish to pursue. people spend money on golf and stuff, so i don't see why spending money on cars is any different.
So life update. I haven't played poker in more than a month. I've got a job at sony retail stores working 30-40 hrs a week. Its going well, so if you guys ever have questions about consumer electronics (tvs, laptops, sony products, etc) I'm that guy. It really does feel like I've extra time on my hands without worrying about poker. I've officially quit the game and cashed out my entire bankroll to repay student loans LOL. A career in sales is what i'm focused on atm.
i get this funky email today from stars
Hello,
PokerStars has become aware of a group of players who broke the Site’s Terms of Service, to the potential detriment of other players. You were involved in a number of hands with these players and as a result you may have been adversely affected.
In this case, the balances of the offending accounts have been confiscated and are now being distributed to players potentially affected, in as fair a way as possible, by way of compensation. In addition, in this particular case, PokerStars decided to make a substantial contribution to the compensation pool.
To confirm your credit, please log onto your PokerStars account, go to the 'Cashier' screen and click the 'History' button. Your share will be shown "ADMIN CREDIT", followed by the amount of the credit.
These players have been barred from the site and you will not encounter them again.
The integrity of the games at PokerStars is of paramount importance and appropriate action will always be taken when players operate outside the Terms of Service, to the detriment of other players. PokerStars works hard to police the games in order to proactively prevent such instances. However, in cases where it is discovered that rules breaches have occurred, the aim is to ensure that any players affected are compensated appropriately.
Thank you for your continued play here at PokerStars. Please do not hesitate to let us know if there are any further issues we can help you with.
Regards,
PokerStars Game Security
Ship the $16. if anybody wants to flip me for it let me know since ive already cashed
will still lurk LP until I lose interest. toodle loo gents
I have played a few sessions of live poker recently (1-2 NL) at the local casino, and I'm looking for ways to really crush it.
I am beating NL10 online so I understand basics of position and pf raising.
My strategy right now is to build a tough image with tight pf play. This includes folding SB and late position with weak holdings in limped pots, and betting 4/5 pot when I do see a flop. I do keep mental notes of players, but I do not trust my live reads to see if players are strong or weak.
I find my biggest leak is c-betting the missed flops. In the long run, is c-betting the flop with AK/AQ/air profitable at 1-2? If so, at what number of people at the flop does it start to be unprofitable?
Also, should I open-limp with low-mid pairs in early position? What about suited and semi-suited connectors?
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and is like "Badugi!" as he scoops massive pot. LOL
, Pizza Tom now leans over and shows Ryan his hand: 
and asks "Wait so I can only use two cards?" Ryan is like "Yes you can use only 2 of those cards". Pizza Tom proceeds to be like "Oh shit" (as he realizes now that he doesn't have three of a kind 8's) then checks to Gordo. Gordo fires $700 and Pizza Tom doesn't waste too much time before calling. Turn comes 
so board reads 
to see that Pizza Tom had just a pair of 8's which were good at that point (not to mention the 3 blockers to Gordo's straight draw, and 84 to take away the 7 as a 2pair out lol). River bricks and Pizza Tom ships massive PLO pot with pair of 8's. "That would happen to me" say Gordo after the hand as he proceeds to play every hand in the badugi orbit before tilt leaving.
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