Darth Dodger considers going to the dark--er, um, west coast 

Let the Wookie win!

Don't expect much poker from me today. I just discovered that they're showing that last Star Wars movie again tonight, and I'm going, damnit! Now that I'm taking fashion tips from Anakin Skywalker, I figure I ought to take advantage of this. Its either that or sit in my basement listening to "The Rooster" by Alice in Chains over and over again while my brace of half-starved Rottweillers gnash their teeth and suck down a deadly mix of ruby port and Robotussin. You've probably heard that dogs like beer. Well they absolutely LOVE wine, and from what I've seen they don't particularly object to the hard stuff either. Hey, if port was good enough for Hemmingway, its good enough for them, though I'm not sure if Papa drank it because he was in Spain, or because it was cheap. Probably both--when I was in Spain wine was about 1/4 of the price of beer....

Listen to Alice in Chains, quietly plotting my triumphant return, or catch Star Wars. Hell, I can plot any night. Sure that movie sucked, but what the hell.

Anakin Skywalker may have been on his way to becoming the most powerful Jedi ever, but he would've made a crap poker player. He couldn't read people for anything, and if he went on tilt, look out! Of course he could always cut the table in two with his lightsabre...I guess he'd get high marks for intimidation. As long as you made it a policy to "let the Wookie win," I suppose you'd let him win too. You would, but Phil Ivey wouldn't....I'm no Phil Ivey, but I know what I like. Hallucinating, half crazed beasts who slobber on my hand and obey my every command. I like it, and so does my good buddy Phil Hellmuth. I've never heard him say an unkind word to his dogs, and neither has anybody else. Of course, I'm not talking about his dogs, I'm talking about the media! No, no, I'm just kidding--after all, I wouldn't want them to hang me by my toenails and flog me and make me listen to Britteny Spears' Greatest Hits, would I? Hmmm...well, on that note, I must be going. Somebody's bowl is empty...

Just an Update

Well, I started out today with $110.71 in PP, and so far I'm finishing with...$110.71. I stuck with the $10 S&G's for four tournaments, winning the 2nd one, and not placing in the money on the other three. I had noticed my final opponent calling some all-in bets earlier with things like qj, so I had been pushing in one on one with any pair, and any ace, at least when I was out chipped,which was most of the time. At first he had me by at least 2 to one, if not 3 to one, but I fought back nicely, & for a while we were more or less even, though I only had him out-chipped occasionally. It occurs to me now that when he called earlier with qj he had the other guy out-chipped by quite alot, so maybe I was underestimating what he was willing to call me with. When I've been correct in such an assessment I've been pretty successful in the past, but I think I was underestimating him, because I can't recall another all-in pot until the end, unless it was early on when I was substantially behind.

In any case, I think my strategy was more or less correct anyway, because I was behind, and the blinds were getting pretty big, 5 0r 600 I think.

Well, I was only a little bit behind when I pushed with the a2 of hearts. He called me and turned over aces! I sucked out on him though, when the 3, 4, and 5 hit the board! I was thinking it was over, since I forgot he had a slight chip lead, but the blinds put him all-in on the next hand, and I got a bigger pair than him on the next hand, so it was over. So on the day I would be down $20 of not for a pretty major suck-out. Usually I finish in the money more than one out of 4 tourneys, so I figured I might be a little off, hence the move back down to the $5 tourneys. In that one I was getting a bit short, (7 or 800, six or seven handed with the BB up to 150) when I got p0ocket queens in the small blind, and attempted to trap the big blind, who happened to be the big stack at the time. He raised preflop, and I moved in, and he called with big slick. He rivered a king, and that was it. I'm pretty confident that if I'd moved in initially he wouldv'e called with that, so I don't regret my trapping attempt at all. Even if he'd gotten lucky with some lesser holding I figure attempting to double through here was correct anyway, given my chip troubles.

A bigger concern of mine is that I actually felt pressure to win so I could have something positive to post! This seems absurd, since I doubt I will have any readers at least for a bit. The state of my PP account is pressure enough, thanks. I haven't noticed if I played better or worse. I think I ws getting better cards yesterday. I definitely had the chip lead more often yesterday, in fact, there were probably 3 or four tournaments where I had about 40% or more of the chips with 5 or so players remaining. I don't remember ever having such a dominant chip position that consistently before. Usually I find myself outlasting the guy that finishes fourth, and either doubling up or busting out after that. Looking back, I think that the dominating nature of my run yesterday was a big part of what made me start this blog, though I had forgotten that last night.

.....It is now several hours later--I have only played a little bit more poker. I jumped into a 3/6 limit game on Bodog, where I really only had two significant hands.

First had in, I pick up kx of hearts, the guy in front of me raises preflop, I call the raise as do 3 or 4 others, and the flop is 9tx with two hearts. It's about 6-handed, and the pre-flop raiser bets. I call UTG, as 2 or three more players are behind me, and I want them to pay me if my flush hits. the turn is another ten, and the pre-flop raiser bets. I figure that there is at least a fair chance the raiser has an overpair or overcards, so I take this opportunity to semi-bluff, representing trip tens. The preflop raiser calls, as does one other behind me. The river is a blank. Since I've gone this far, I fire the last bet, but, as I expect, both still call. The preflop raiser turns over j9, for nines & tens, and takes down the pot. Given the fact that I had minimal information about any of the players, my play was out of line, and I cost myself an extra $12. This is no way to start off on a table, particularly when I started out with only $149 on the site.
A few blinds and pre-flop calls later I'm already about $50 in the hole. I keep getting kx suited preflop, but raises in front of me are keeping me out of the action. I think I did a fairly good job of avoiding tilting after my self-inflicted rocky start, but I was still in danger of getting ground into powder by the blinds, with my short roll.

A bit later I called a preflop raise with j8hearts in the big blind and flopped either 9tk of hearts or 9qk of hearts. It bugs me that I don't remember which, since in one case I have two outs to the straight flush, in case I'm up against the nut flush, and in the other case I have only one. On the other hand, someone with a queen kicker could have me beat in the one case, but in the other only one flush could have me beat. I have a strong hand, but I'm feeling kind of snakebit, and have a feeling that I'm about to run into the nuts.

I decide I'm going for the check raise anyway, being up front & what not, and especially since there was a pre-flop raise. I think the pot was four way at this point. In any case, the flop was raised before it came back around to me. I made it three, and then one of the others capped it.

The turn was a blank, a card low enough not to tempt anyone who mightve been fool enough to be calling 4 bets (or capping) with a straight draw. I was not about to give any ace of hearts a free card, so I bet out. Nobody raised me, but everyone called. I figure I'd be raising if I had the nut flush, but there was also a good chance that I was the only one who knew that nobody had a straight flush, thanks to my jack. I would still throw in one more raise with a suited ace, however, and figure I was good until I got raised.

The turn was another blank, so nobody's improved to beat me. I think my biggest scare card would be anything that paired the board, particularly a king, since I figure there is a good chance
a big two-pair is out there, given my three callers. I bet out again, by now minimally concerned about the suited ace. The action on the flop led me to believe that these guys wouldn't get cute & wait to raise me on the river with that kind of strength. I got two callers. After my cards were turned up, the player after me showed 64 of hearts. The last guy, who I believe raised preflop and on the flop (& the 64 capped) didn't show. I think the 64s played it right by hoping he had me beat and calling, since he could already be beat, and probably wanted the others in. In any case, raising may not have eliminated anyone drawing to a boat. I think I may have made a mistake by not going for a check-raise, since I'm pretty sure the player directly behind me (64) capped the flop. I may have been able to collect three more big bets that way. I didn't want to give a free card, but the chances of that may have been minimal, though I have seen people cap with only a draw to the nut flush occasionally, slowing on the turn when a blank hit. I also figured since I had check-raised the flop, the other players may have been wary of a repeat on the turn.

The pot was $99, and after I won another small hand a little later, the table broke up, leaving me up about $30. This was probably for the best, since I really don't think I had much business being there with my rather fragile bankroll. I had depleated it a bit the day before on a 5/ten table, only recovering a fraction of my losses on a much softer 2/4 table, before I went on my PP S&G streak.

After two days of blogging I have noticed a couple of things.

First, my memory is pretty good when I go without hand histories, but there are still holes. I like to think I am remembeing most of the important things. It stands to reason that we remember the things that we focus on during a hand more than other things. There are probably some players out there that would remember EVERYTHING, however, or at least be alot close to it than me.

Second, while writing about these hands seems to be helping me to pick up on things within my thought processes that I might not otherwise notice, I am a lazy blogger. In some cases I have e-mailed hand histories to myself, but I would rather go from memory.

Meanwhile, the 10% rule has been kicking my ass when it comes to customizing my blog. So far all I have tried to do is get a Brooklyn Jedi vanity shot of myself onto the page, but that hasn't worked out yet. I took a photo with my webcam & saved it, but I haven't been able to get it onto the blog.

I've also noticed that my thought processes have been getting rather defensive, since my so far non-existant readers will probably consider me to be a king-hell degenerate gambler. As long as they don't try to enroll me in a 12 step program. Maybe I'll edit that stuff out. In any case, I won't repeat how much I'm down right here. Make you judgemental pricks look for it. If you don't find it I edited it out. Of course then I should edit this part out too. This blog shit is turning into alot of work, damnit!

Up From Rock Bottom? Knock on Wood...

Hopefully whatever follows doesn't upset anyone's aesthetic sensibilities too much....This is my first post & I have approximately...um...NO idea how these blogs work, so any charitable souls out there who feel like offering advice will be appreciated.
If, however, there is mischef in your heart, now is your chance to mislead me or mock me, while I am still a babe in the wood, so to speak.
There is something in the Army called the 10% rule. Basically, the 10% rule states that you must be 10% smater than a given piece of equipment in order to make it work. Failure to make a given piece of equipment work therefore implies that you are, at best, 9% smarter than said tool, be that tool a rifle, a hammer, a copier, a sack of hammers, or--a computer....
So, if it turns out that i require assistance getting over the 10% hump on this blog, don't be shy to give me a little push! I may not be as dumb as a sack of hammers (or is it "as smart as a sack of hammers?"), but if I am only 6 or 7% smarter than a sack of hammers, than you'd better not put your hard earned $$ on me, because you don't have enough of an edge to overcome the vig!

Ahhhhh....the inevitable segway (sp?) into odds....

I'm not sure how much of this blog will be stream of consciousness, but insofar as some of it will be, I suppose it was inevitable that I would start talking about gambling, odds, poker, sports betting, etc--

After all, that was sort of the point, this being one more poker blog & what not.

thats all the world needs--another f*****g poker blog--

Some of the poker blogs I've read have had something akin to a mission statement. The blogger would explain that he was inspired to take $50 and throw it onto Party Poker, and attempt to parlay that into millions, or at least bore us with periodic updates on his failure to do so. Or his goal might be to chronicle as many surreal or otherwise interesting experiences somehow relating to poker as possible, while hopefully not losing his shirt in the process. Or the blog might be primarily instructional in nature.

Well...this isn't exactly a mission statement, but there are a few things inspiring me to start writing here.

One is certain common threads I have seen running through other blogs, which seem to be almost universal within the poker-blogging subculture, such as calling pocket kings Hellmuths, pocket queens the Hilton sisters, and referring to 72, be it suited or otherwise, as the Hammer, if not the Holy Apostolic Hammer. Bloggers also seem to need to attempt to drop the Hammer on unsuspecting opponents as a matter of principle. While I must confess to having done my share of hammer-dropping in order to influence my table image (though generally in late position +/or suited, or at least in one of the blinds) I prefer to hammer my opponents with a couple of Hiltons, or Bullets, (or Kings, but since when is Phil Hellmuth so triumphant in the poker world that he deserves to supplant cowboys in our vernacular?--unless we are talking about his re-inventing himself as Phil the Shill, in which case i must admit that he reigns supreme in the sphere of poker marketing). But I must save my rantings on the Blogslang for another post.

Another is the terrific string of bad-beats I endured last weekend in Doyles Room. They are fading from memory surprisingly quickly, (the one that stands out to me was moving in preflop with pocket hel--er--kings, vs q9 of spades, flopping a set, but losing to [you guessed it] a kqjt9 straight.) I think I will try to keep the bad beat whinings to a minimum, however. I've waded my way through blogs that got so bogged down in bad beat stories that I started to wonder if I had wandered from Purgatory into one of the Nine circles. (--Note to fellow bloggers: If you must regale us with bad beat stories, at least have a sense of humor about it. What's the saying? You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar? If you MUST beat a dead horse, first dip your Louisville Slugger in honey. Then you'll attract flies--if thats what you want....um, what was I saying?

The final straw came last night. I dozed off at the tail end of a string of S&Gs on PartyPoker and figured I'd check my balance. It was...dramatic pause...$35.71....WHAT!!?!! I'd thought I'd aleady hit rock bottom, but this might be my all time low. Without checking my notes, since I must really be going to bed soon, this puts me down roughly at -$1200 lifetime on that site. Less than a year ago I had over $10,000 on PartyPoker, and for one blissful week had been winning about $1000 a day on the $15/30 limit hold-em tables. I was dreaming of money laundering my profits in the Caymans and starting up some cash businesses....Maybe I still am--DREAMING that is....

Well, was that rock bottom? Today I played seven $5 sit&go's, and finished in the money in five of them (3 2nd places, one 3rd, and one 1st). After my fist place finish I moved up to the $10 S&G's, and took 6th place, 1st place, and 3rd place in 3 tournaments, bringing my PP account up to $110.71. Have I finally somehow managed to regain my focus? Am I just getting lucky? Is this some sort of "dead cat bounce," like what happens to wothless stocks just before the company goes belly up?

This is where I find myself currently, and this is why I am knock-knock-knocking on wood.
Personally, if I stay focused, put in the hours, and don't ride my losing streaks into the ground (a BIG if, given my recent past history) I think I have at LEAST as good a shot at finishing the year in the black as the Orioles do of winning the pennant. I have $10 on them at $16-1. If my computer hadn't gone on the fritz, I would've had them at 50-1 before the line moved. Do I think the Orioles will win the pennant? Hell no, but at the time I liked them at 16-1. I LOVED them at 50-1--in the NL you could only get 40-1 on Cincinnati at the time Cincy-FREAKIN-nati!!!

Well, I must close, before I'm mistaken for an Orioles fan (I'm not). Meanwhile, my superstitious side reminds me that through most of my S&G success today I was wearing either a Brooklyn Dodgers cap, or a Brooklyn Dodgers sweatshirt I picked up yesterday that makes me look like a cross between Phil Laak and Anakin Skywalker after he turned and had that hooded, dark Jedi/Sith apprentice thing going on....Well, the color scheme is all wrong, since the thing is Dodger Blue & White, with red trim, & the hood is WHITE, of all things....& no, I'm not a Dodger fan either, but rest assured, I will be wearing that sweatshirt as long as this streak and my air conditioning hold up....
--LATER