The WCOOP Razz Event - My Night To Shine

This is a day overdue. But seriously, if you saw how wiped I was the day after this, you would understand why I haven't gotten around to typing this out until today. You're about to go through some of the highs and lows of this event with me, but guaranteed, you're going to enjoy this.

In July, in the wake of my recent success in Razz, we found out not only was PokerStars adding Razz to their spread of games, but the very first event of the World Championships of Online Poker was to be a $215 Razz event.  Naturally, I'm excited, but letdown.  I don't have the bankroll to cover that, but seriously wanted a guaranteed shot at playing.  I knew I could most likely end up spending more on satellites for the event than the buy-in itself cost.  Without any real prompting, just me stating my desire to play, people on FCP started asking to buy pieces of my action.  Within an hour, I already had everything bought up.

Unfortunately, starting in mid-August, I hit the big downswing.  You remember the post about the video gaming, you know I was doing bad at the tables.  It started looking up when I final tabled the $22 Razz event on Full Tilt, but immediately went downward after I went down 30BB in cash games.

Then I decided I would try a satellite to get myself in, so that I might have a shot of keeping my entire profit.  That happened Wednesday night, 3 days before the event.  I busted after the first break, experiencing nothing but coolers and a cold-deck and never getting my stack above 1700 from the starting 1500.  I was pissed off, and very frustrated.  I immediately told my backers not to send the money, because I wasn't playing.  I had every one of them talking me out of my decision.  Followed by a long talk with one of them, as well as Harley, I retracted the statement, and was back in.

I took Thursday and Friday night off of poker, but just chilled and talked with friends.  Everyone of them giving me positive reinforcements for Saturday.

Friday night, I told myself that I didn't care anymore if I cashed.  If the past month served correct, I wouldn't cash.  I just wanted to play the best Razz I could.  I wanted to make as few mistakes as humanly possible.  I wanted to play patient, and not try to force things, and not try to amass a huge stack early.  If I could just do all of these things, I would be happy.

I didn't sleep well Friday night.  I kept tossing and turning.  I did manage to get 9 hours in, but I don't know how.

I woke up Saturday morning a nervous wreck.  I loaded up PokerStars to prepare, and saw that the field had jumped from 300 to over 700.  My nerves immediately became more frayed.  I should've closed the lobby, but I couldn't.  I just kept watching the field grow as the time to start grew closer and closer.  Yeah, that didn't help my nerves much.

Knowing that the temperature was going to be too hot upstairs, and downstairs would be too noisy, I packed up the laptop and moved to the basement.  I knew, for the most part, I would be undisturbed down there, and I would disturb less people as well.

Registration closed at 1297 and we were on our way.  My nerves were still on the edge, as they were almost the entire tournament, but it didn't phase me.  I had seen over 10,000 hands of Razz this year.  I knew what to do almost instinctively.

The first three levels went along pretty much uneventful.  I did get a couple of bad losses, but nothing major; I was only down about 300 from my 2500 starting stack.

In the fourth level, however, came the hand of the tournament for me.  My opponent had clearly defined himself as the biggest donkey at the table.  He was capping bets with ten highs.  Any hand that had even two cards lower than a 6, he was capping on 3rd.  99 players out of 100, and this play would be horrible.  This 1 case however, it was right.  Here it is:

PokerStars Game #6309920419: Tournament #40000001, $200+$15 Razz Limit - Level IV (60/120) - 2006/09/16 - 18:12:35 (ET)
Table '40000001 95' 8-max
Seat 1: vesap (2901 in chips)
Seat 2: jdchance (2258 in chips)
Seat 3: jac33142 (1461 in chips)
Seat 4: HangukMiguk (2376 in chips)
Seat 5: jester710 (2404 in chips)
Seat 6: 9_balla (3809 in chips)
Seat 7: PAMPERCHEF (1526 in chips)
Seat 8: songwebb (3265 in chips)
vesap: posts the ante 12
jdchance: posts the ante 12
jac33142: posts the ante 12
HangukMiguk: posts the ante 12
jester710: posts the ante 12
9_balla: posts the ante 12
PAMPERCHEF: posts the ante 12
songwebb: posts the ante 12
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to vesap [4s]
Dealt to jdchance [8s]
Dealt to jac33142 [Jd]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [6h 5d 3h]
Dealt to jester710 [Tc]
Dealt to 9_balla [2d]
Dealt to PAMPERCHEF [8c]
Dealt to songwebb [7h]
jac33142: brings-in low 18
HangukMiguk: raises 42 to 60
jester710: folds
9_balla: folds
PAMPERCHEF: folds
songwebb: folds
vesap: raises 60 to 120
jdchance: folds
jac33142: folds
HangukMiguk: raises 60 to 180
vesap: raises 60 to 240
Betting is capped
HangukMiguk: calls 60
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to vesap [4s] [6s]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [6h 5d 3h] [Ah]
HangukMiguk: bets 60
vesap: raises 60 to 120
HangukMiguk: raises 60 to 180
vesap: calls 60
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to vesap [4s 6s] [Jh]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [6h 5d 3h Ah] [Qd]
vesap: bets 120
HangukMiguk: raises 120 to 240
vesap: raises 120 to 360
HangukMiguk: raises 120 to 480
Betting is capped
vesap: calls 120
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to vesap [4s 6s Jh] [Qs]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [6h 5d 3h Ah Qd] [Js]
HangukMiguk: bets 120
vesap: raises 120 to 240
HangukMiguk: raises 120 to 360
vesap: raises 120 to 480
Betting is capped
HangukMiguk: calls 120
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [6h 5d 3h Ah Qd Js] [3d]
HangukMiguk: checks
vesap: bets 120
HangukMiguk: calls 120
*** SHOW DOWN ***
vesap: shows [2c Ts 4s 6s Jh Qs Kh] (Lo: J,T,6,4,2)
HangukMiguk: shows [6h 5d 3h Ah Qd Js 3d] (Lo: J,6,5,3,A)
HangukMiguk collected 3114 from pot

My push on 3rd is standard play for me.  Even if it wasn't, I would be pushing this hand on 3rd against him.  I catch perfect on 4th, and push again.  I brick on 5th, but he is showing Jack high.  I am a clear favorite to draw out on him here, so a push is natural.  Once again, I brick on 6th, but I know he's still only got Jack high.  I bet here knowing that 60% of the time, I'm ahead, and even if I'm not, I have a very good chance of drawing out.  I'm shocked he continued to push this hand on 6th, but like I said, he wasn't the brightest bulb there.

EDIT--10/12/2006:  I just finally bit the bullet and ran some calculations on the hand above just to see if my on the spot odds were close.  I had my opponent on a range of hands where I could expect him to cap bets with three cards to a ten, as long as two of them where lower than five.  So, here's the odds from each street, with his exact hand, seeing as I could put him on something like this:

3rd street: I'm a 59% favorite.
4th street: I'm a 68% favorite.
5th street: I'm a 64% favorite, even though I don't currently hold the best hand.
6th street: I'm a 71% favorite.  I was off on my calculations there, I was an even bigger favorite in the hand than I thought, but like I had said, I knew even if he improved, or if I was wrong, I had a good chance at a redraw here.  Even at 60% against him, I push here.  But 70+% in Razz makes the push 50 times more correct.
7th street: I'm a lock (duh).  Had I have improved to an 8 or 7, given the range of hands I put the vesap on, I would even cap here.

I almost threw up when I bricked the river.  But I'm priced in on 7th (I'm getting 25:1 odds on my call, this is a no-brainer call, there's no hands here that I can fold this to), and there's a very good chance against him that my hand wins.  When I saw that I was, in fact, the winner, I almost jumped through the ceiling.

I got moved to another table.  Nothing really interesting happened here, just my chip stack bouncing up and down a bit.  There was a massive thread on FCP'ers progress on FCP.  
I read through this yesterday, and discovered that I was seated at a table with Annie Duke.  I
had no clue, and honestly, it wouldn't have mattered much.

I wound up getting moved again, eventually landing at a table that absolutely shocked me.  I got seated to the immediate right of 1983 World Champion Tom McEvoy.  You dream about playing the names you see in the books and on TV, but when it happens, it catches you off guard.  What really was shocking was when this happened just about six hands after I joined the table:

PokerStars Game #6311456791: Tournament #40000001, $200+$15 Razz Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/09/16 - 20:33:02 (ET)
Table '40000001 141' 8-max
Seat 1: pios31 (6841 in chips)
Seat 2: Jack3-9-95 (5233 in chips)
Seat 3: zblazer (17512 in chips)
Seat 4: gator93 (3056 in chips)
Seat 5: LucasMarcano (5046 in chips)
Seat 6: ElMastermind (1395 in chips)
Seat 7: HangukMiguk (3109 in chips)
Seat 8: Tom McEvoy (1512 in chips)
pios31: posts the ante 40
Jack3-9-95: posts the ante 40
zblazer: posts the ante 40
gator93: posts the ante 40
LucasMarcano: posts the ante 40
ElMastermind: posts the ante 40
HangukMiguk: posts the ante 40
Tom McEvoy: posts the ante 40
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to pios31 [9d]
Dealt to Jack3-9-95 [9s]
Dealt to zblazer [2d]
Dealt to gator93 [Qd]
Dealt to LucasMarcano [9c]
Dealt to ElMastermind [9h]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [2s 5c 8c]
Dealt to Tom McEvoy [5s]
gator93: brings-in low 60
LucasMarcano: folds
ElMastermind: folds
HangukMiguk: raises 140 to 200
Tom McEvoy: raises 200 to 400
pios31: folds
Jack3-9-95: folds
zblazer: folds
gator93: folds
HangukMiguk: calls 200
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [2s 5c 8c] [3h]
Dealt to Tom McEvoy [5s] [As]
Tom McEvoy: bets 200
HangukMiguk: raises 200 to 400
Tom McEvoy: raises 200 to 600
HangukMiguk: raises 200 to 800
Betting is capped
Tom McEvoy: calls 200
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [2s 5c 8c 3h] [6s]
Dealt to Tom McEvoy [5s As] [Qc]
HangukMiguk: bets 400
Tom McEvoy: calls 272 and is all-in
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [2s 5c 8c 3h 6s] [Kc]
Dealt to Tom McEvoy [5s As Qc] [3c]
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [2s 5c 8c 3h 6s Kc] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
HangukMiguk: shows [2s 5c 8c 3h 6s Kc 2h] (Lo: 8,6,5,3,2)
Tom McEvoy: shows [4d 3s 5s As Qc 3c Ac] (Lo: Q,5,4,3,A)
zblazer said, "brick"
HangukMiguk collected 3324 from pot

That's right, I busted him.  That was a confidence booster.  I got slightly lucky here, but not so much.  He was short on chips, so he was prone to make a move here no matter what.  I put him on that range of a hand, but can't fold 3rd with only one visible out gone (two or three if I'm right about McEvoy's hand).  I caught great on 4th, and was drawing to two visible outs gone.  I capped it, which is probably a mistake, but it didn't feel wrong at the time.  I knew he was going to get all the money in somewhere down the line, and I would end up being committed to the pot regardless.

Once again, I catch good on fifth, and we get it in.  My read was in fact correct, but this hand isn't over yet.  I now have to fade a 2, 8, 7, or 6 to win.  McEvoy was drawing to 15 outs at the time, about 2.5-1 to win this hand.  Luckily, brick brick for my win and a huge confidence booster.  Not a lot of people can say they busted a World Champion, and I can.

A little later, zblazer at this table proved himself to be a Razz donkey. I know this because he showed little respect for completions, calling them with King highs, calling down with the worst of it, then miraculously making his hand on the river.  I wound up nicknaming him Ricky Zilem, naturally.

Call it karmic, call it donkey play, whatever, but as he had once sucked out on me, I did the same on him in the following hand:

PokerStars Game #6312001451: Tournament #40000001, $200+$15 Razz Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2006/09/16 - 21:21:03 (ET)
Table '40000001 141' 8-max
Seat 1: pios31 (2752 in chips)
Seat 2: Jack3-9-95 (5703 in chips)
Seat 3: zblazer (25438 in chips)
Seat 4: TheRoll (4731 in chips)
Seat 5: LucasMarcano (8576 in chips)
Seat 6: ElMastermind (3124 in chips)
Seat 7: HangukMiguk (2521 in chips)
Seat 8: Bakane (5499 in chips)
pios31: posts the ante 60
Jack3-9-95: posts the ante 60
zblazer: posts the ante 60
TheRoll: posts the ante 60
LucasMarcano: posts the ante 60
ElMastermind: posts the ante 60
HangukMiguk: posts the ante 60
Bakane: posts the ante 60
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to pios31 [3c]
Dealt to Jack3-9-95 [2s]
Dealt to zblazer [2h]
Dealt to TheRoll [2c]
Dealt to LucasMarcano [4d]
Dealt to ElMastermind [7h]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7c Ac 2d]
Dealt to Bakane [Ks]
Bakane: brings-in low 90
pios31: folds
Jack3-9-95: raises 210 to 300
zblazer: calls 300
TheRoll: folds
LucasMarcano: calls 300
ElMastermind: folds
HangukMiguk: raises 300 to 600
Bakane: folds
Jack3-9-95: calls 300
zblazer: calls 300
LucasMarcano: calls 300
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to Jack3-9-95 [2s] [8s]
Dealt to zblazer [2h] [9c]
Dealt to LucasMarcano [4d] [3d]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7c Ac 2d] [Ah]
HangukMiguk: bets 300
Jack3-9-95: calls 300
zblazer: calls 300
LucasMarcano: calls 300
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to Jack3-9-95 [2s 8s] [9d]
Dealt to zblazer [2h 9c] [5h]
Dealt to LucasMarcano [4d 3d] [Tc]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7c Ac 2d Ah] [7d]
HangukMiguk: bets 600
Jack3-9-95: folds
zblazer: raises 600 to 1200
LucasMarcano said, "????????"
LucasMarcano: folds
HangukMiguk said, "time to get lucky against zilem"
HangukMiguk: raises 361 to 1561 and is all-in
zblazer: calls 361
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to zblazer [2h 9c 5h] [Kc]
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7c Ac 2d Ah 7d] [Qc]
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7c Ac 2d Ah 7d Qc] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
zblazer: shows [5c 6c 2h 9c 5h Kc Kd] (Lo: K,9,6,5,2)
HangukMiguk: shows [7c Ac 2d Ah 7d Qc Ts] (Lo: Q,T,7,2,A)
HangukMiguk collected 7292 from pot

When both those Kings peeled off for him, I was running around the basement screaming.  I was back in business thanks to a very lucky draw against a donkey.

Things kept going and going, and the bubble kept drawing closer.  Two FCP'ers left (me and scottyno, the two big razz heads on FCP), and one other member from AJPoker, BobbyDigg, who also plays Razz exceptionally well.  Come to find out, there were 30+ members in the AJPoker chat room watching me and Bobby play (a first for AJ).  I kept accumulating chips, and started seeing a TON of railers coming my way.

Unfortunately for scottyno, he got a cold deck and some really bad luck.  He squeezed through to the bubble, and busted on an unlucky hand shortly after, leaving me and BobbyDigg left.

After the bubble burst, it was just a blur.  My heart was racing, as well as my mind, as I kept playing my A game.  Like most of my tournament, my stack fluctuated a lot, incurring a lot of bad beats, and a lot of big hands where I made some monsters.  At no point in this tournament, did I steam.  I never tilted, my focus was so high that I didn't even have to tell myself to calm down after a losing hand.  I was already calm.

The night I won the $11 tournament on Full Tilt, I told Harley something in response to how fast I was processing the information and reacting to it.  I simply said, "I am a machine."  Saturday, that's what it felt like.  My only job was to play my hands exactly how I know to play them, react to the changing situations, and react quickly.  I never once used my timebank.  I didn't need it.  I reacted instinctively, and almost immediately to every action made in the game.  It wasn't that I was rushing myself either.  I had already though through the situations before they arose, and then did exactly what I thought was the right option in the given situation.

Before I knew it, we were down to 30 players.  I was fighting back the tears of joy, remember that I still had a job to do.  By this time, the nerves wore off, and shortly after, BobbyDigg busted, leaving me the only one left representing both AJPoker and FCP.  After Bobby busted, I truly felt that I was the best player left in the field.  If I didn't screw up, and I didn't get horrendously unlucky, I would make the final table.  If I made the final table, I knew I would win.  There wasn't even a question in my mind about that.

Unfortunately, I did get unlucky with 13 players left in the tournament.  These following two hands were back to back:

PokerStars Game #6315549517: Tournament #40000001, $200+$15 Razz Limit - Level XIX (10000/20000) - 2006/09/17 - 02:58:18 (ET)
Table '40000001 42' 8-max
Seat 1: HangukMiguk (153192 in chips)
Seat 2: FellKnight (273728 in chips)
Seat 3: BadgerDawg (214776 in chips)
Seat 4: debrisfish (215564 in chips)
Seat 5: 2badd4u (348993 in chips)
Seat 7: TS Long (321433 in chips)
HangukMiguk: posts the ante 2000
FellKnight: posts the ante 2000
BadgerDawg: posts the ante 2000
debrisfish: posts the ante 2000
2badd4u: posts the ante 2000
TS Long: posts the ante 2000
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7h 5s 4d]
Dealt to FellKnight [9c]
Dealt to BadgerDawg [Qs]
Dealt to debrisfish [Ac]
Dealt to 2badd4u [2c]
Dealt to TS Long [4c]
BadgerDawg: brings-in low 3000
debrisfish: folds
2badd4u: raises 7000 to 10000
TS Long: folds
HangukMiguk: calls 10000
FellKnight: folds
BadgerDawg: folds
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7h 5s 4d] [8d]
Dealt to 2badd4u [2c] [9s]
HangukMiguk: bets 10000
2badd4u: calls 10000
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7h 5s 4d 8d] [Kh]
Dealt to 2badd4u [2c 9s] [5c]
2badd4u: bets 20000
HangukMiguk: raises 20000 to 40000
2badd4u: raises 20000 to 60000
HangukMiguk: raises 20000 to 80000
Betting is capped
2badd4u: calls 20000
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7h 5s 4d 8d Kh] [7d]
Dealt to 2badd4u [2c 9s 5c] [2h]
HangukMiguk: bets 20000
2badd4u: calls 20000
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [7h 5s 4d 8d Kh 7d] [Qd]
HangukMiguk: checks
2badd4u: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
HangukMiguk: shows [7h 5s 4d 8d Kh 7d Qd] (Lo: Q,8,7,5,4)
2badd4u: shows [3s 8c 2c 9s 5c 2h 6d] (Lo: 8,6,5,3,2)
2badd4u collected 255000 from pot

I was right to push on 5th street.  I was not drawing bad, and I was drawing better than a nine-high.  I am a slight favorite there.  When he paired up on 6th, and I hit what couldn't have looked like a brick to him, I was hoping he'd fold.  I would've bet if I had hit on 7th, only to still lose the hand.  Even still, if I bet on the bluff, I'm almost certain he calls with nine-high.   I was going to have to double up several times no matter what after this.  I'd rather save a bet, and make sure if I do double up, I get more chips.

EDIT 10/22/2006: I got a ton of feedback and flack from people about how I played this hand.  So I've decided to give a breakdown starting from every street:

3rd Street: I'm up against the lowest card on the board (now that the ace in front of him folded), who completes.  The four folds, and here I am with 754.  This is not a powerful seven, but it's not a terrible hand, and in a situation like this, I'm more than happy to see what develops.  Naturally, his complete after the low door folds could be more of an auto-completion than anything, but I won't find that out unless I raise.  However, this hand is vulnerable enough as it is, and I don't want to price myself into a hairy situation on later streets, so I opt to call.  Throwing this away is a BIG mistake FYI, with only two outs folded up, this is one of the best situations you can find for this hand.  (Position on 3rd: 56% favorite)

4th Street: This is about as bittersweet a street as it can be.  I hit an out, however it is an eight.  I'd prefer to see an ace or a deuce, or even a three, to make my decision easier, and the former two kills some of the dead outs I had.  However, the key thing that makes this street good is that the villain hits a 9.  I now know I'm improving to be a clear favorite in the hand, no matter what his down cards are.  This is an obvious bet here.  If he folds, he was on an auto-complete on 3rd.  If he calls, this hand has a potential for an explosion.  And he calls, so get your helmets on.  (Position on 4th: 62% favorite)

5th Street: Here's the street I got the most flack on.  I brick out with a King, and he improves to what appears to be (and probably is) a made nine.  At this point, I am only seeing 2 outs gone that effect my hand, and the 5 didn't hurt my hand either.  I push this pot and see what happens.  By doing this, I A) build up a pot for when I do hit my hand, and B) give myself odds to see 7th if I don't improve, but he doesn't improve to where I'm drawing dead.  And like I did mention before, USUALLY a draw to a hand better than a nine is better than a made nine.  I say USUALLY, because after doing
calculations on this hand, I was actually a 2:1 underdog.  oops.  make that mistake #6 for me.

Scottyno actually told me I could've saved a couple bets on 5th street here.  After seeing the up cards and running calculations on the hand, I agree.  On the fly, that's not an easy decision.  Without knowing what the actual downcards are, I can only go by the outs that I see missing from the board.

Plus, you have to factor in that players will play their boards more often than not, so he could 
just as easily have paired up somewhere and only be representing the hand on his board.  I am also in a position where I have to make a decision: do I want to play to move up the payscale, or do I want to win?  Just cashing, for me, was a good result here, and I did not want to tighten up strictly to move up the payscale.  Given all the factors above, plus my desire to win, I needed to accumulate chips.  Winning this hand, and extracting maximum value (doubling up) would give me around 311,000 in chips (around 15.5BB), whereas tightening up leaves me with around 5BB.  I'm going to have to make a move, and this felt like the time.  If I just call here, I am in a worse position to extract maximum value here.  Say I call here, call 6th, hit the river, and he misses.  He may continue to fire out on the river, and if I raise, he'll most likely opt to flat call.  Or, he may cease betting, and opt to check/call any bet I make on the river.  Both scenarios do not give me maximum value on the hand.

Now, if I cap here, miss, call 6th, and hit 7th, and he misses, he's committed to calling off the rest of my stack on 7th even if he thinks he's beat.

Also, you have to factor in that if I hit either street, that makes his odds of hitting a hand to beat me decrease.  Not only does it change it, it changes the percentages DRAMATICALLY.  Thus, say, I hit the Ah on 6th this time, and he hits the same card on 6th, I am now a 77% favorite to win the hand.  He is also now priced in to try to hit a better 8 than me, with me still drawing live to a 7 high on 7th.

6th Street: Instead, I hit the 7d, and he also pairs.  Like I said above, he bricks, and I "hit."  As far as he knows, I made an 874 low.  He may decide here, after I portrayed a strong draw to lower than a 98 on 5th street, that he doesn't want to continue this hand, but considering my stack, I wouldn't fault his call either; he's pretty much committed himself to this hand. (Percentages: I'm 23% to win)

7th Street: Alas, I brick.  There's nothing I can do to win this pot, as he's priced in with a made nine (which I'm certain he has...at least), and if he makes a made eight or lower, and I bet, he raises me for my last few chips.  I can't even call a bet from him if he makes it here.  I check, and much to my shock, he checks behind me after improving to an eight, knowing I hold at best now an 87 low.  That check means nothing more than that.  If I bet, I'm committed to calling off my remaining chips anyway, so why check/raise?  If I even made a nine, I would surmise that I would go ahead and bet it in, because I'd almost have to call there just from the price I'm getting on it.  This was strictly a check to save chips from missing my hand.  If he bets, he doesn't have to showdown his hand, which means none of his opponents could get any more information on how he plays from him.  But either way, I'm shutdown on this hand. Check or check/fold are my only options, and hope that I have some chances to mount a comeback.

But the next hand says it all:

PokerStars Game #6315555180: Tournament #40000001, $200+$15 Razz Limit - Level XIX (10000/20000) - 2006/09/17 - 02:59:16 (ET)
Table '40000001 42' 8-max
Seat 1: HangukMiguk (31192 in chips)
Seat 2: FellKnight (271728 in chips)
Seat 3: BadgerDawg (209776 in chips)
Seat 4: debrisfish (213564 in chips)
Seat 5: 2badd4u (481993 in chips)
Seat 7: TS Long (319433 in chips)
HangukMiguk: posts the ante 2000
FellKnight: posts the ante 2000
BadgerDawg: posts the ante 2000
debrisfish: posts the ante 2000
2badd4u: posts the ante 2000
TS Long: posts the ante 2000
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [8s 4c 6h]
Dealt to FellKnight [8d]
Dealt to BadgerDawg [Jh]
Dealt to debrisfish [Qd]
Dealt to 2badd4u [Kd]
Dealt to TS Long [7d]
2badd4u: brings-in low 3000
TS Long: folds
HangukMiguk: raises 7000 to 10000
FellKnight: raises 10000 to 20000
BadgerDawg: folds
debrisfish: folds
2badd4u: folds
HangukMiguk: raises 9192 to 29192 and is all-in
FellKnight: calls 9192
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [8s 4c 6h] [8h]
Dealt to FellKnight [8d] [Kh]
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [8s 4c 6h 8h] [8c]
Dealt to FellKnight [8d Kh] [Qs]
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [8s 4c 6h 8h 8c] [7c]
Dealt to FellKnight [8d Kh Qs] [Js]
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to HangukMiguk [8s 4c 6h 8h 8c 7c] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
HangukMiguk: shows [8s 4c 6h 8h 8c 7c 7s] (Lo: 7,7,8,6,4)
FellKnight: shows [9d 6d 8d Kh Qs Js 4s] (Lo: J,9,8,6,4)
HangukMiguk said, "gg"
FellKnight collected 73384 from pot
FellKnight said, "gg"

If I didn't pair up, hit a King or a Queen on the river, I double up.  Unfortuantely, I did hit a boat, and was out.  And it was over, just like that.  I wasn't upset, I didn't get angry.  I was just in shock.  In a field of almost 1300 players, I finished 13th.  The top 1% of the field.  The total cash was $2075.20.  After paying my backers, I walked away with just $0.14 shy of $1100.

After vowing I wouldn't play, I went on to conquer this field, and absolutely leave my peers on FCP an AJPoker in awe.  I left myself in awe.  I just stood there seeing my name on the leaderboard, just in shock at what I had just accomplished, because six people on FCP had faith in me enough to stake me in this tournament, and felt like I deserved my chance to play it.  I had busted a world champion, and made enough to move up a level in Razz.  I got to live a dream.  It wasn't the one where I walk away with the bracelet and the $58,000.  But it was exactly what I said I would  be happy with Friday night.  And I was true to my word.  I made maybe 5 mistakes in the tournament.  Out of over 700 hands dealt to me, I am proud of that.

My birthday is on Tuesday.  What a birthday present I was able to give myself.  This is an experience I will never forget.  Ever.

I'm fully convinced of it now.

I am not supposed to win an AJPoker game. Ever. Not even if I paid them off to win it would I win it.

That is all.

My Sendoff To Those I Could've Known

First song I've written in a while.

I have all this pain bottled up
And I'm wanting to uncork it
But I'll just put it away
And leave my burdens unsorted
And you know how I feel
But I won't let you in
Everyone knows how I feel
But I won't let them in

And if I could just trust someone
Maybe I would be fine

I'm sitting here watching my blood boil
Rotting away
Knowing you could help me find my way
I'm sitting here watching my wounds
Pour out to the ground
Thinking I'm better off this way

All my hurt gathers up in my mind
If I could just break through
And release, and unwind
Maybe I could start anew
But you know I can never let it out
That just isn't my style
Maybe things will just sort themselves out
In a little while

And if I could just trust someone
Maybe I would be fine

I'm sitting here watching my blood boil
Rotting away
Knowing you could help me find my way
I'm sitting here watching my wounds
Pour out to the ground
Thinking I'm better off this way

Now I'm sitting here with this gun to my head
And these pills in my hand
And we all know where this will end
If only I trusted
Someone at all
I wouldn't be facing this bitter end

I'm sitting here watching my blood boil
Rotting away
Knowing you could help me find my way
I'm sitting here watching my wounds
Pour out to the ground
Thinking I'm better off this way 

Who's Hardcore? My Lyrics Game

Just because I'm absolutely bored tonight.  I'm going to give you a series of song lyrics.  You have to e-mail me the song title along with the artist's name.  I don't expect anyone to get all of them, but good luck anyway! Who knows?  I might be cool and send the winner something cool.

Now, this will go through the depths of my music knowledge too, so be prepared for a challenge.

Here goes:

1. Since we're the ones
Who occupy this temple
We'll be the ones
Who'll show you out

2. You leave me exhausted
And that's what I miss

3. go ahead flash your smile
a season of fattening
prime of the canine
and swine-bred children of guile
carry on, carry on

4. Crawling again
The heart is screaming with a smile
Pride says no because of the stain
The heart pounds for love, pride says no
Because of what the heart is longing for
I'm not sure, I'm not sure I want to be a man anymore

5. And I
Just wish that I didn't feel like there was something I missed
And I
Take back all the things I said to make you feel like that

6. lack of understanding lack of communication
lack of a desire for expanding education
lack of inspiration lack of innovation
the fact you can't respect another mans creation

7. So follow the leader down
And swallow your pride and drown
When there's no place left to go
Maybe that's when you will know

8. I see you in line dragging your feet
You have my sympathy

9. There's some kids there in some trouble,
need a Pepsi on the double.
Then he shouts, not so quiet,
"Would you like regular or diet?"

10. With the lights out it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us

11. This place inside my mind, a place I like to hide
You don't know the chances. What if I should die?!

12. I never thought I'd die alone
Another six months I'll be unknown
Give all my things to all my friends
You'll never set foot in my room again

13. If you try to knock me you'll get mocked
I'll stir fry you in my wok
Your knees'll start shaking and your fingers pop
Like a pinch on the neck of Mr. Spock

14. Brothers & Sisters
We're gonna draw the line to make people change
But yo I'm opitmistic, down with positivity
This is a struggle so prepare to fight

15. Fall back on me, and I’ll be the strength I need,
to save me now, just come face to face with me

16. I am the mess you chose
The closet you cannot close
The devil in you i suppose
'Cause the wounds never heal

17. Back in the back
Of a cadillac
Number one with a bullet, I’m a power pack

18. Playing all these games and, I wonder who's to blame it.
I sit and think it's you, I'm sure the feelings mutual.

19. He lived on the second floor of a little store he ran,
He moved to LA from Japan,
They called him 'Immigrant,'
In Japanese, he'd say he was called "Issei,"

20. You blew my mind in to a million pieces
Pushed You aside
And still You got my back

21. Don't want your hand this time I'll save myself
Maybe I'll wake up for once

22. Life is overwhelming
Heavy is the head that wears the crown
I'd love to be the one to disappoint you when I don't fall down

23. Sorry goes as far as you let it
And I can forgive, but I can't forget
So you can walk all over me again

24. Take another second
Turn your back on me
And make believe
That you'll always have me

25. Give me a song, or rhythm
Makin em sweat
Thats what Im giving em
Now they know

I'll give you about a week or so to respond, whoever gets the most wins.  I'll post the answers when the game is over.

Up the count

As of tonight:

total # of AJpoker games played: 50
total # of cashes: 23
total # of final tables: 10
total # of wins: ZERO

ujhvliahaihndf'oand;ilanf;anhg;ah;kadgj 

Some time to unwind.

This week has been absolutely messed up.  I get a cyst on my right underarm.  And quite frankly, it took the better part of a week to go away.  Which, I'm glad to know that it's gone.

Unfortunately, now I'm getting cold decked like you wouldn't believe.  And, naturally, it's eating away at my conscience.

After Thursday, I pretty much became so depressed that I just slept all day.  Friday however, I plugged in some video games.

I had been doing this a lot this week though.  Just not as much as this weekend so far.

Last week, my friend rented Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, and I played that a little.. Wow, this game is good/frustrating.  It's pathetic when I can't beat the second stage.  But then I've never been tops at Metal Gear Solid-ish games.

Friday, I figured what the heck, and put in Kingdom Hearts.  I hadn't played this game in 3 years.  I had a save point where I was at the final boss, but couldn't beat him and got frustrated.  Someone wound up deleting it (Probably me, since I borrowed the game from Bobo, my cousin).  Well, one of my friends just beat it, so I borrowed his save point for this.  He wound up not completing everything.  While he was at school, I found all the Dalmations, closed the keyhole in the Pooh book, and wound up beating the Ice Titan.  After he got home, I beat the game.  Then we got to bask in the excellence that is the secret movie ending.  Ahhhhhhhhh...foreshadowing.

He had also just bought Kingdom Hearts 2, and started playing it after I beat Kingdom Hearts.  He had a week or so head start on the game.  I wound up going upstairs and going to bed at this point, I was so tired.  I later find out he was just partially through Land of the Dragons (Third world of the game...mmmmm...Mulan...wait...um...what?)

I woke up about 6 am, and couldn't get back to bed, so I came downstairs and started plugging away at it.  By 5:30 pm when I went to eat dinner, here's what I got done (In order):

Twilight Town
Hollow Bastion
Land of the Dragons
The Beast's Castle
First part of the Hundred Acre Woods
Olympus Coliseum
Mickey's Castle
Timeless River
First Tournament at the Coliseum
1st part of Atlantica
Half of Port Royal

It seriously has been forever since I've really sat down to play video games.  I've neglected them so much for poker/Raw Deal/music.  I've really missed this.  And do I still own?  Yes, yes, I think I do.

Probably quite a bit of this for the next week.  Dunno what I'll be delving into next once I beat Kingdom Hearts 2.  I could always finally beat Final Fantasy X.  Then I could have my mom mail up Final Fantasy X-2 so I can beat it...maybe.  There's always the addictive factor of Intelligent Qube.  I've always wanted to play Parasite Eve, though, and it's at my disposal.  Plus, we just got Final Fantasy Anthology.

God, I got a lot of catching up to do.

But now, I'm wiped.  I'll try to stay up another 30 minutes and then go to bed.

This HAD to be a joke, right?

People who have played Razz will definitely understand how incredibly retarded this whole thing is.

Full Tilt Poker Game #912502995: Table Danville - $0.50/$1 Ante $0.10 - Limit Razz - 3:51:16 ET - 2006/08/19

Seat 1: Peter Alba ($17.30)

Seat 3: FoolCaller ($56.25)

Seat 4: Theyosienicenes ($20.60)

Seat 5: mml05 ($10.45)

Seat 6: MisterGMB ($57.20)

Seat 7: holla buck ($14.80)

Seat 8: jjok ($24.75)

mml05 antes $0.10

Peter Alba antes $0.10

holla buck antes $0.10

MisterGMB antes $0.10

Theyosienicenes antes $0.10

FoolCaller antes $0.10

jjok antes $0.10

*** 3RD STREET ***

Dealt to Peter Alba [As]

Dealt to FoolCaller [Ac]

Dealt to Theyosienicenes [3s]

Dealt to mml05 [8d]

Dealt to MisterGMB [Jh]

Dealt to holla buck [8c]

Dealt to jjok [Jd]

MisterGMB is high with [Jh]

MisterGMB brings in for $0.15

holla buck folds

jjok folds

Peter Alba calls $0.15

FoolCaller folds

Theyosienicenes completes it to $0.50

mml05 folds

MisterGMB folds

Peter Alba calls $0.35

*** 4TH STREET ***

Dealt to Peter Alba [As] [4h]

Dealt to Theyosienicenes [3s] [8h]

Peter Alba checks

Theyosienicenes bets $0.50

Peter Alba raises to $1

Theyosienicenes calls $0.50

HangukMiguk sits down

*** 5TH STREET ***

Dealt to Peter Alba [As 4h] [2h]

Dealt to Theyosienicenes [3s 8h] [6h]

Peter Alba bets $1

Theyosienicenes calls $1

*** 6TH STREET ***

Dealt to Peter Alba [As 4h 2h] [4s]

Dealt to Theyosienicenes [3s 8h 6h] [5d]

Theyosienicenes bets $1

HangukMiguk adds $30

Peter Alba raises to $2

Theyosienicenes calls $1

*** 7TH STREET ***

Theyosienicenes checks

Peter Alba bets $1

Theyosienicenes has 15 seconds left to act

Theyosienicenes: lol....got 3 pair here

Theyosienicenes calls $1

*** SHOW DOWN ***

Peter Alba shows [Tc 9s As 4h 2h 4s 2d] (T,9,4,2,A)

Theyosienicenes shows [6c 5c 3s 8h 6h 5d 3h] (a pair of Threes)

Peter Alba wins the pot ($11.35) with T,9,4,2,A





AFTER THE HAND:



Theyosienicenes: had you the whole wqay too

Peter Alba: why did you call?

Theyosienicenes: at that point....getting

11-1....had too

HangukMiguk: with a pair?

Peter Alba: with 3 pair?

Dealer: Theyosienicenes has 15 seconds left to act

Theyosienicenes: 11-1...if he didn't have a pair

showing

Peter Alba: you will never be right

HangukMiguk: with you having a pair?

Dealer: FoolCaller has 15 seconds left to act

FoolCaller: idiot

Theyosienicenes: 11-1

MisterGMB: pair will never win this game

HangukMiguk: you're going to call when he

doesn't show a pair and you have three pair?????

Theyosienicenes: no.....but if he is....and i'm that

pot commited....how do you not for $1?

MisterGMB: the only way you could have won is if

he had a higher 3 pair than you

Theyosienicenes: I understand..........but a pair

showing....and 11-1 for $1......if this was the 5-10

game, of coarse not

MisterGMB: odds are odds and it was a bad call

Theyosienicenes: for a $1.....i totally disagree

MisterGMB: the amount doesnt matter

Theyosienicenes: again.....I disagree

MisterGMB: the odds dont change

Theyosienicenes: also, I had him beat the whole

way down, it cost m $1 to prove it

MisterGMB: lol, ok

Theyosienicenes: not a big deal to call

Theyosienicenes: if I could show my laydown on

this site.....maybe I don't

Peter Alba: here is why it was a bad call

Theyosienicenes: but I doubt it

Peter Alba: because you had 2 pair

Peter Alba: i coulda had 2 pair

MisterGMB: he had 3 pair

Peter Alba: and still had 5 non paired cards

MisterGMB: true

Theyosienicenes: my 2 pair was 2-3-6-8.....I'll take

my chances on the river against 9 high

Peter Alba: or have 1 pair and 3 non paired cards

MisterGMB: the odds of both of you having 3 pair

is very high

Peter Alba: the thing is that no matter what my 2

pair is i win

Peter Alba: i would have to have 3 pair or a

fullhouse

Peter Alba: for you to win

Peter Alba: i coulda had aces up but my other

cards woulda been my low hand

Theyosienicenes: not true....if I get a A,4,5,7 on

the river.....I win....thats alot of outs

Peter Alba: ya on the iiver

Peter Alba: you called with 3 pair you could only

beat 3 pair or a fullhouse

Peter Alba: you couldnt win just so you know

Peter Alba: unless all of my hole cards were the

same

Theyosienicenes: ok....I'm done explaining my

point....your right

MisterGMB: lol

Theyosienicenes: I'll take my small profits with my

point and boogie......ty

 

A tough razz hand.

9 players left in the tournament tonight, 1 away from the final table.  Everyone has tightened up, so stealing the antes are very easy right now.  Here's what happens:

FullTiltPoker Game #909175690: $10 + $1 Tournament (5922280), Table 6 - 800/1600 Ante 150 - Limit Razz - 4:05:11 ET - 2006/08/18

Seat 1: Dodson10 (23,586)

Seat 3: HangukMiguk (9,216)

Seat 4: Corona_J1428 (7,261)

Seat 5: Dibboll (18,049)

Dodson10 antes 150

HangukMiguk antes 150

Corona_J1428 antes 150

Dibboll antes 150

*** 3RD STREET ***

Dealt to Dodson10 [5d]

Dealt to HangukMiguk [5h 2h] [5s]

Dealt to Corona_J1428 [5c]

Dealt to Dibboll [9h]

Dibboll is high with [9h]

Dibboll brings in for 250

Dodson10 folds

HangukMiguk completes it to 800

Corona_J1428 folds

Dibboll calls 550

*** 4TH STREET ***

Dealt to HangukMiguk [5h 2h 5s] [4s]

Dealt to Dibboll [9h] [2c]

HangukMiguk bets 800

Dibboll calls 800

*** 5TH STREET ***

Dealt to HangukMiguk [5h 2h 5s 4s] [Ks]

Dealt to Dibboll [9h 2c] [9d]

HangukMiguk bets 1,600

Dibboll raises to 3,200

HangukMiguk calls 1,600

*** 6TH STREET ***

Dealt to HangukMiguk [5h 2h 5s 4s Ks] [Ad]

Dealt to Dibboll [9h 2c 9d] [Qs]

HangukMiguk bets 1,600

Dibboll calls 1,600

*** 7TH STREET ***

Dealt to HangukMiguk [5h 2h 5s 4s Ks Ad] [Js]

HangukMiguk bets 1,600

Dibboll calls 1,600

*** SHOW DOWN ***

HangukMiguk shows [Js 5h 5s 4s Ks Ad 2h] (J,5,4,2,A)

Dibboll shows [Tc 4c 9h 2c 9d Qs 3d] (T,9,4,3,2)

Dibboll wins the pot (16,600) with T,9,4,3,2

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 16,600 | Rake 0

Seat 1: Dodson10 folded on 3rd St.

Seat 3: HangukMiguk showed [Js 5h 5s 4s Ks Ad 2h] and lost with J,5,4,2,A

Seat 4: Corona_J1428 folded on 3rd St.

Seat 5: Dibboll showed [Tc 4c 9h 2c 9d Qs 3d] and won (16,600) with T,9,4,3,2

After this hand, I was so pissed.  This guy played this hand so badly, married himself to a pathetic hand, and won with it.  However, after rewatching this hand about 1,000 times in PokerTracker, I realize that I myself made a key mistake that possibly cost me this hand.  Let's break this down, street by street.

3rd Street: Action folds to me, and I hold a very margainal holding.  Now, usually, I'll fold hands like this.  However, we are four-handed, with one more elimination until the final table and a pay increase.  The players have been playing passive, so I complete.  Corona had been folding to my completions all night.  On top of that, That makes for three fives out of the deck.  It's going to be tough for me to pair up.  I also don't count 9's as outs on 3rd street, which has served me well.  Unfortunately, I get a caller in Dibboll.  IF I had folded this, though, Corona completes, and finds himself in this situation instead of me.  So in a way, playing this is a mistake, but a minor one, and one I wouldn't take back, as it is proper play in a situation like this.

4th Street: The bet is fine.  If I check here, that says, "Hey, I have a hidden pair, feel free to take this pot."  With a four there, that's scary to him.  I figured he would call here though to see 5th to see if he improves his hand, but would brick and fold.  But if I check, I relinquish control of the hand, and am forced to fold when he bets.

5th Street: I brick (boo), but he pairs up (YAY).  I can now fire out, and possibly take out this pot.  The raise threw me for a loop though.  HUGE MISTAKE ON HIS PART.  I honestly have no clue if he was even thinking, or if that was a birth defect on his part.  Regardless, here's where my key mistake is.  I called the raise.

The question is: Do I re-raise or fold?  Folding keeps me with chips in hopes of making the final table.  Depending on the next couple hands, I could rebuild to a median stack.

However, I'm not there to make the final table, I'm there to win.  Raising sends the signal that I am drawing to beat 9-high even if he makes it.  Now, looking at my cards, you know I'm not.  But he doesn't know that.  And calling here lets him know that I don't have much, so he can now call me down with margainal holdings.

6th Street: The bet is fine, but given the current scenario, he may decide I don't have a draw better than a 9 to win, so he can call to see if he hits lightning.  By re-raising 5th street, I would have sent the signal that my hand is not to be messed with, so when that ace comes, he'll think I hit a monster and fold (most likely, not always the case against some idiot players).  Luckily, I did have a draw to beat a nine, just hoping to catch it.

7th: BRICK!  I have to fire one more bet out to try to scoop this.  Unfortunatly, he only semi-bricks.  At this point, he's priced into calling with T9.  I've been in that situation before where I'm priced in with hands like those and pull pots against bluffs.  It just sucks to be that person caught, and even worse, be completely crippled to boot.

So, this was a rough pot to lose, but I do feel if I make that 3rd bet on 5th street, I pull this pot down.

Reason why I hate Poker.com

This is only the third hand I play in the AJPoker game, second flop seen, first showdown:

HangukMiguk Posted Small Blind 15
BobDiNiro Posted Big Blind 30
Dealing Cards
You Were Dealt (Kh, Ks)
JDean0012 Folds
CYCOMAN Folds
joco66 Folds
jonboy765 Folds
dcfitz420 Calls 30
DNegreanu All In for 600
MauBon Folds
FloppedSet Folds
HangukMiguk All In for 935
BobDiNiro All In for 2,860
dcfitz420 Folds
-------------------------------------------------
DNegreanu has (8h, Ad)
HangukMiguk has (Kh, Ks)
BobDiNiro has (Kd, Kc)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Flop (9c,Ah,2s)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing Turn (7s)
-------------------------------------------------
Dealing River (6c)
-------------------------------------------------
1,940 Returned to BobDiNiro from pot 3
-------------------------------------------------
BobDiNiro Wins 350 from pot 2 with : Pair of Kings
-------------------------------------------------
HangukMiguk Wins 350 from pot 2 with : Pair of Kings
-------------------------------------------------
DNegreanu Wins 1,830 from pot 1 with : Pair of Aces


Right after that, I had to commit my stack with a margainal Ace, got called by Ace King.

I may never win an AJPoker game.

AJPoker league 7

23 cashes
9 final tables
0 wins
And it's time AJPoker's 7th League. I'm tired of losing these. I'm ready to finally stand on top of this field.

That's right, I'm calling my shot. I will win this AJPoker tournament. The rest of you can just give up. This one's mine.

The blackest day in poker has arrived...

Mark this day black on your calendars: Poker has been destroyed.

I thought things were bad when Robert Varkonyi won the Main Event. And that was definitely bad. I looked on in disgust, and was screaming at my TV when Danny Nguyen donked his way to a WPT Title.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see what I saw today. The most undeserving, most despicable being in poker wins the World Championship. And not only wins it, but wins it almost uncontested due to the fact that only one player at the table saw him for the donkey he truly was, and couldn't do anything about it because he got cold-decked the entire Final Table.

Before this Final Table started, I predicted that Jamie Gold would finish no higher than 6th place. I watched in horror as 2nd place at the time took pocket jacks against him when he wakes up with pocket queens to finish in 6th.

He now had 60% of the chips, and there was no possibility that anyone could catch up. Everyone, save consummate pro Allen Cunningham, layed down to him.

Once Cunningham busted at a perfect 50-50 race situation with his pocket tens against Gold's King Jack suited (where Gold CLAIMED he was getting the right pot odds to call, or so he said, 2-1, when he was in truth, getting 1.3-1, making a bad call to spike his miracle card), I almost resigned to the fate. But I still held out a glimmer of hope that one of his remaining two opponents would stand up and fight. Neither one of them did.

Both of them layed down to him. They soft played him as if they were paid off to do so. Jamie Gold even made a major no-no, and major infraction about 20 times during play, which should've resulted in a penalty: He TOLD his opponents his hands! He even exposed his cards to his opponent once, which is an automatic 10 minute penalty! Did he get that penalty? No!

How Phil Gordon and Ali Nejad could say his play was extraordinary is beyond me. That just makes me sick. What little respect I had for Phil Gordon is now gone. And Ali Nejad...well, is there any way someone could drop into negative respect levels?

Now, of course, this was only the Pay-Per-View version ($26 and 15 hours I will never get back). When this airs on ESPN, he will be absolutely glorified as the ultimate human interest story. You'll hear all about how he was playing for his father at home dying with Lou Gherig's disease. You'll see his teary-eyed phone call home after the bracelet's put on his wrist (a sheer mockery to the sport of poker). You'll hear almost every pot he enters, how he played this hand brilliantly and that hand brilliantly. You'll hear how he was Johnny Chan's protege, and how he's being "groomed for poker greatness."

What you will NOT hear about is the angle he shot through the media by claiming he didn't want to win and that he was going to dump his chips, which, as we can see now, is utter garbage. What you will NOT hear about is how his mother, who accompanied him instead of staying with her dying husband, was an absolute witch who downed on the busted players. What you will NOT hear about is how when he busted David Einhorn (who donated all of his tournament winnings in the Main Event to charity), he went over to his mom, and they both mentioned how "all the charity money is gone" and then had a nice little chuckle about it. I seriously don't know whether to feel sorry for this guy, or feel sorry for this guy while I mail my feces to him.

This donkey is a disgrace to poker. A total disgrace. Granted, almost everybody at the final table, save Douglas Kim, Erik Friberg, and Allen Cunningham, was a donkey, but if we're guaranteed to be represented for a year by a donkey, I'd rather have one with a soul. This guy truly doesn't have one. Every time he was on camera, he was running another angle. This guy would not shut up at all. It got to the point where he would run his mouth enough that it became blatantly obvious what cards he held. Why? Because he flat out told us, without being penalized! And what's worse is that no one, save Allen Cunningham, believed him.

And I have to say that this guy represents me as the ambassador of poker until 2007? I refuse to accept that. I don't care whose protege he is. Chan, in spots Gold was in, would've played differently, and the only reasons I can produce as to why Johnny was ecstatic in Jamie Gold's donkey plays working is A) he was backing him, B) he was happy to see his student winning C) both A and B. So don't give me the fact that he's Chan's pupil. Chan would've been asked if he switched brains with a retard if he played like Jamie Gold did these two weeks.

I'm a poker player. I have been playing poker since I was 6 years old. I love this game. I know this game well, and I play well. And I respect the masters of the game, and I have respected the past two champions, Greg Raymer and Joseph Hachem, and great ambassadors of the game. They've proven that.

This guy will never prove that. I guarantee you that. And I will refuse to accept him as my ambassador this year. Give me Joe Bartholdi, Season 4 Champion of the World Poker Tour. Give me Jeff Madsen, youngest 2-time bracelet winner ever (younger than me). Give me Bill Chen, apparently a great mathemetician and logical poker player, and one of two double bracelet winners this year. Give me Chip Reese, the 50K HORSE winner. Give me Doyle Brunson, who at 73, still proves he can play his top game. For the love of God, give me Phil Hellmuth, who may be a prick at the table, but never surrendered this year, finally got his 10th braclet, and appears to have clinched the Player of the Year for this WSOP. Don't give me Jamie Gold. All TV viewing donkeys at home can have him. I'll take a real champion. This guy is a fluke, and a joke. He will always be a joke in the poker world.

Now, please excuse me. I'm going to go vomit, and pray that after I wake up from my sleep today, that this was all a bad nightmare, and Allen Cunningham really did win the Main Event.

WOW

I seriously have never had a week in poker quite like this.

So everyone's now seen my big takedown in the Razz freeroll.  The very next Saturday, 
there's a forum Challenge Freeroll on Stars.  NLHE, great, been running bad in it.

But who cares?  I get myself psyched up, and ready to play.

Wound up making some incredible plays, and getting incredibly lucky too, and finished 
38th out of 2047 players.  Only scored for the tune of $8.75, but oh well.  Once again, I 
go incredibly deep in a big field.

But it doesn't stop there.

Tonight, I entered the $10+1 Razz tournament on Full Tilt.  61 players, and I'm VERY 
confident in this one.

Once again, played all different sized stacks well, and well, take a look for yourself:

 

That's right!  I scored for $200!  Biggest cash I've ever made in a tourney!

Oh yeah, I'm on fire.

Just when I was giving up faith in myself...

I have been having a shoddy time in Poker. I've been playing good, yet I've been seeing the pot go the opposite way. Seriously, I play the hand right, some dude gets lucky and takes the pot. Bubbling Sit-N-Go's, and just grinding my wheels in Multi Table Tourneys.

Every AJPoker tournament I enter, I can't do nothing, and when I do, it's never that long-awaited win I've been looking for.

So I took it down a step and starting playing some more Freerolls. No better way to beat variance. Maybe there is, but whatever.

All this week, I've played the HORSE Tournament on Bugsy's Club, which is one of the best structures ever. And I have done SO WELL in them. All except I get to the top 10% of the field, and bust before the money.

And yeah, the same thing happened tonight. So I join the Full Tilt No Limit Hold'em Freeroll (900 enter, 18) pay. On a break, I register for the Razz freeroll (Since Razz is my absolute best game period). I bust 47th in NLHE, and am grinding my wheels (again in Razz).

So once again, this leaves me with this last chance tonight.

And then, while still playing almost flawless, things start turning my way. Then, we get 8 away from the money (764 enter, 18 still pay). And once again, things turn sour.

I sit on my chips up until 4 left till the bubble, and then start making calculated steals and moves. And then the bubble bursts, and I come out swinging.

And it starts working. Then I falter, but I pick myself right back up.

And then I'm at the final table. And well, this image will speak for itself (once again, click the image below for the bigger image):



I WON! I WON THE WHOLE THING! Unbelievable! I have NEVER done this well in 300+ fields. Now, I have done it. And now, finally, I know I can do it. This is a huge burden off my shoulders.

That was 5 hours of grueling poker well worth it (even if the cash was small).

Cyber Pwnage

When you play poker, and post on poker forums, one of the things you will run into is people IM'ing you asking for stakes. This has been a growing trend on FCP recently. And most of these people are just random lurkers who have never posted and are just desperate for money to continue playing a losing game of poker, and beg the winners for money. Usually, the amount is only $5.

I, however, was entertained by one of the more desperate ones. And thus, I can now entertain you.

This is his story:

(3:49:48 AM) hooplehead1876: Hey, it's me from the poker forum. Is there any way you could stake me a couple of hundies? I'm a great player.
(3:50:18 AM) oN3 40 se7en: which poker forum do you belong to?
(3:50:24 AM) hooplehead1876: FCP
(3:50:32 AM) oN3 40 se7en: cool, cool
(3:50:37 AM) oN3 40 se7en: what's your name on there?
(3:50:51 AM) hooplehead1876: I'm just a lurker.
(3:51:31 AM) oN3 40 se7en: oh ok
(3:51:50 AM) oN3 40 se7en: well, that might be possible
(3:52:01 AM) hooplehead1876: So, like two hundy?
(3:52:16 AM) oN3 40 se7en: perhaps
(3:52:35 AM) oN3 40 se7en: let's just make sure you're ready for such a huge responsibility
(3:52:45 AM) oN3 40 se7en: don't worry, i'm pretty lenient, so i'm sure it'll be no sweat
(3:52:55 AM) oN3 40 se7en: but just gotta do this for a mere technicality
(3:53:03 AM) hooplehead1876: cool, cool
(3:53:16 AM) oN3 40 se7en: where do you play?
(3:53:30 AM) hooplehead1876: Stars, Pacific.
(3:53:54 AM) oN3 40 se7en: don't have money on either of them...but stars isn't too hard to get money on to
(3:54:00 AM) oN3 40 se7en: what stakes do you play?
(3:54:15 AM) hooplehead1876: Anything, man.
(3:54:27 AM) hooplehead1876: I've played as high as $40/80
(3:54:45 AM) hooplehead1876: I need this money soon to pat off a debt. Can we hurry?
(3:54:51 AM) oN3 40 se7en: yeah yeah, sorry man
(3:54:57 AM) oN3 40 se7en: just gotta make sure you're ready
(3:55:03 AM) oN3 40 se7en: what games do you play?
(3:55:08 AM) hooplehead1876: I was born readdy
(3:55:29 AM) hooplehead1876: No limit holdem. The only man's game left!
(3:55:36 AM) oN3 40 se7en: nice
(3:55:44 AM) oN3 40 se7en: now that i know the basics
(3:55:50 AM) oN3 40 se7en: time to get down to the nitty gritty
(3:55:56 AM) oN3 40 se7en: what does UTG mean?
(3:56:19 AM) hooplehead1876: under the giraff?
(3:56:28 AM) oN3 40 se7en: you've learned padowon
(3:56:32 AM) oN3 40 se7en: BB?
(3:56:41 AM) hooplehead1876: big betty?
(3:56:47 AM) oN3 40 se7en: i'm proud
(3:56:56 AM) oN3 40 se7en: would you ever have sex with an octopus?
(3:57:28 AM) hooplehead1876: Why would you need to know that?
(3:57:39 AM) oN3 40 se7en: just answer it...your stake rides on it
(3:57:45 AM) hooplehead1876: No
(3:57:54 AM) oN3 40 se7en: you wouldn't have sex with eight women?
(3:58:01 AM) oN3 40 se7en: are you light in the trousers?
(3:58:22 AM) hooplehead1876: Naw, man. this is bullshit.
(3:58:30 AM) oN3 40 se7en: sorry sorry
(3:58:37 AM) oN3 40 se7en: we can ignore that question
(3:58:44 AM) oN3 40 se7en: since you didn't understand the context
(3:59:18 AM) oN3 40 se7en: new question:
(4:00:28 AM) oN3 40 se7en: this is the first hand of the WSOP main event. Only there's a new rule this year: first one out gets a lap dance from the thunder from down under all-male revue. Everyone moves all-in in front of you, and you are dealt AA in Big Betty. Do you call?
(4:00:48 AM) hooplehead1876: No
(4:00:54 AM) oN3 40 se7en: WRONGO
(4:01:02 AM) oN3 40 se7en: you call and accept the strippers as consolation
(4:01:15 AM) hooplehead1876: I've heard from experts that you should fold 'em
(4:01:35 AM) oN3 40 se7en: cmon man...free strippers don't come along every day
(4:01:42 AM) oN3 40 se7en: think man, think!
(4:01:48 AM) hooplehead1876: I'm not gay, dude.
(4:01:58 AM) oN3 40 se7en: well, you wouldn't have sex with an octopus
(4:02:02 AM) oN3 40 se7en: i'm sorry
(4:02:04 AM) oN3 40 se7en: let's continue
(4:03:20 AM) oN3 40 se7en: trust me, this will all make sense in the end, when you are rolling in the hundos
(4:03:32 AM) hooplehead1876: Okay.
(4:04:41 AM) hooplehead1876: I'm going to be honest-- you'll likely never hear from me again.
(4:04:51 AM) oN3 40 se7en: i know
(4:04:53 AM) hooplehead1876: But it's good to help someone out
(4:04:57 AM) oN3 40 se7en: i stake people lots
(4:05:02 AM) oN3 40 se7en: they never call, they never write
(4:05:05 AM) oN3 40 se7en: it's the way life goes

*Silence for 10 minutes*

(4:15:40 AM) hooplehead1876: kay
(4:16:20 AM) oN3 40 se7en: but if you were to ever have sex with kathy liebert, would you call her?
(4:16:38 AM) hooplehead1876: Yeah?
(4:16:47 AM) oN3 40 se7en: WRONG!
(4:16:51 AM) oN3 40 se7en: she doesn't own a phone
(4:17:21 AM) hooplehead1876: What? Dude, I don't know if you're trying to be funny or not.
(4:17:30 AM) oN3 40 se7en: actually i was
(4:17:33 AM) oN3 40 se7en: did it work?
(4:17:40 AM) hooplehead1876: Yeah. LMAO
(4:17:43 AM) oN3 40 se7en: good
(4:17:52 AM) hooplehead1876: Are you going to stake me or what?
(4:17:54 AM) oN3 40 se7en: just some humor to lighten up this whole situation you're in
(4:17:59 AM) oN3 40 se7en: just a sec, just a sec
(4:19:19 AM) oN3 40 se7en: who would win in a fist fight, and why? Mike Jones, or Matt Damon?
(4:20:09 AM) hooplehead1876: Mike Jones. Because he's from the streets. Is this relivant, or are you just fucking with me?
(4:20:32 AM) oN3 40 se7en: this is a test to tell what kind of character you have
(4:20:32 AM) hooplehead1876: Are you just wasting my time. I told you I was good
(4:20:54 AM) oN3 40 se7en: you're actually wrong, chuck norris would kick both their butts while eating a banana split
(4:20:57 AM) oN3 40 se7en: but that's beside the point
(4:21:22 AM) hooplehead1876: HOW THE HELL COULD I GUESS THIS SHIT?
(4:21:28 AM) hooplehead1876: Fuck off!
(4:21:31 AM) oN3 40 se7en: dude
(4:21:32 AM) oN3 40 se7en: chill
(4:21:39 AM) oN3 40 se7en: I was just stating my opinion
(4:21:49 AM) oN3 40 se7en: do you want the stake or not?
(4:23:27 AM) hooplehead1876: You're just fucking with me. My pokerstars name is the same as my AOL name. If you want to make money, stake me. If you just think you're a comedian, fuck off.
(4:23:32 AM) oN3 40 se7en: seriously dude, every one of my stakees had to take this line of questioning
(4:23:37 AM) oN3 40 se7en: and none of them complained
(4:23:47 AM) oN3 40 se7en: i'm starting to think you're just yanking my crank
(4:23:58 AM) hooplehead1876: I am?
(4:24:09 AM) hooplehead1876: You're stupid!
(4:24:37 AM) oN3 40 se7en: I'm not asking for the stake, am I?
(4:24:56 AM) oN3 40 se7en: be respectful to me, since i still hold your money in my neteller account
(4:25:30 AM) hooplehead1876: I just pray you need my help with a stake someday. Are we doing this or what?
(4:25:38 AM) oN3 40 se7en: just two more questions
(4:25:45 AM) hooplehead1876: Promise?
(4:25:50 AM) oN3 40 se7en: promise
(4:26:09 AM) oN3 40 se7en: fill in the blanks: my favorite hand is _____________________ because ______________________________________.
(4:26:21 AM) hooplehead1876: AA
(4:26:37 AM) hooplehead1876: Because it's a favorite over anything
(4:27:11 AM) hooplehead1876: I also like 75, because no one sees it coming, lol
(4:27:29 AM) oN3 40 se7en: lol
(4:28:06 AM) oN3 40 se7en: fill in this last statement
(4:28:10 AM) oN3 40 se7en: and the stake is yours
(4:28:49 AM) oN3 40 se7en: I think Sam Grizzle is sexy because __________________________________________, but I think Robert Varkonyi is sexier because ______________________________________.
(4:29:32 AM) hooplehead1876: If I answer, will you stop this **** and stake me?
(4:29:39 AM) oN3 40 se7en: yes, now DO IT KNAVE!
(4:29:55 AM) hooplehead1876: Who are these peole?
(4:29:58 AM) hooplehead1876: people
(4:30:06 AM) oN3 40 se7en: you don't know who Sam Grizzle is?!
(4:30:22 AM) oN3 40 se7en: FORGET VARKONYI!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU DON'T KNOW WHO SAM GRIZZLE IS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
(4:30:51 AM) hooplehead1876: Is he that guy who beat the shit out of Phil Hullmuth?
(4:30:55 AM) hooplehead1876: Hellmuth
(4:30:57 AM) oN3 40 se7en: THANK GOD
(4:31:08 AM) oN3 40 se7en: i thought i wasn't going to get to stake you
(4:32:05 AM) hooplehead1876: I guess Sam is sexy because he's tough, but Robert is because he's rich
(4:32:19 AM) oN3 40 se7en: you have succeeded
(4:32:23 AM) hooplehead1876: Stake me now?
(4:32:32 AM) oN3 40 se7en: but before we get started
(4:32:38 AM) oN3 40 se7en: do you know the nickname for K3?
(4:32:55 AM) hooplehead1876: No
(4:33:02 AM) hooplehead1876: What the hell?
(4:33:11 AM) oN3 40 se7en: and you've been lurking on FCP for how long?
(4:33:15 AM) hooplehead1876: Are you staking me or what?
(4:33:25 AM) oN3 40 se7en: sure sure
(4:33:27 AM) oN3 40 se7en: just wondering
(4:33:33 AM) hooplehead1876: A few months
(4:33:36 AM) oN3 40 se7en: oh ok
(4:33:40 AM) oN3 40 se7en: that explains it all
(4:33:49 AM) oN3 40 se7en: here goes, the all-magical stake begins
(4:33:55 AM) oN3 40 se7en: I put on my wizard robe and hat
(4:34:05 AM) oN3 40 se7en: I cast level 200 Stake on PokerStars
(4:34:07 AM) oN3 40 se7en: and I'm spent
(4:34:08 AM) hooplehead1876: FUCK YOU!
(4:34:10 AM) oN3 40 se7en: good night sir
(4:34:14 AM) oN3 40 se7en: what?
(4:34:17 AM) oN3 40 se7en: i staked you
(4:34:48 AM) hooplehead1876: I hope you catch AIDS from all those little african kids you fuck
(4:35:01 AM) oN3 40 se7en: have fun in zimbabwe
(4:35:21 AM) oN3 40 se7en: douche

Blogger Championship 2

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 8893921

I give up...

I don't believe in love anymore. I just don't. There is no reason to. I feel cold, and hurt, and am just tired. I give up. I don't want love anymore.

Fuck love.

Great...Writer's Cramp

It has seriously been forever since my wrist hurt this bad. Get those thoughts out of your heads. You know who you are.

Yesterday, I had a bright idea of writing a new poker article. I hadn't written once since around July. And I figured it's about time I start sharing some stuff I know with my fellow players.

I decided to do an in-and-out examination of Razz strategy. Ideas quickly began flowing through my head, and I decided it was time to put those thoughts down.

I stopped on my way to work at Target, and bought a 100-page composition notebook and two pens. I did this because I didn't have anything to write with on me. I began writing, thinking I would be done shortly.

Tonight, at midnight, I finally finished, and wound up using almost 1/5 of the notebook.

My hand hurts so bad, it's hard to type. But I wound up analyzing proper strategy from 3rd street straight down to showdown, and tried to encompass almost every possible situation one could face.

Now, just because I finished writing the article, doesn't mean I am finished with it. I still need to reread everything. If there are more situations to write about, I need to write about them. Then, of course, comes typing this sucker out. And then submitting it for publication on AJPoker.com.

Hopefully, this will get published. They have no idea how hard I worked on this, and how much writing this made my brain hurt.

But yeah, I think I just wrote a pretty definitive article here. And I seriously hope it goes over well.

A shred of light in a dark place can make all the difference...

I woke up resenting my job. Simply put, I hated it. This job has made me retched. Simply put, when you put yourself in a position where your patience is tested every 10 minutes, you start to realize what kind of person you really are deep down inside.

And I was horrible. I've spent so much time muting customers, call them douchebags and every other name in the book, and punching my cubicle and monitor, and giving my monitor the finger, that you would think that I had Tourette's.

I wanted to quit, but know I can't. I can't afford not to have this job right now. So I stay, and be the retched person I am.

Or maybe not?

Today, I come in, expecting another day of the normal idiots and me complaining behind their backs. What I got instead was not expected.

And it started with the worst call I have ever got.

Verizon has just adopted a new policy where e-mail address passwords cannot be abc123 or 123abc. Otherwise, the customer's e-mail is shut down. This is to protect them from spammers using their e-mail to send out spam and viruses. Some guy didn't see it this way, as I got a call from him saying he received an e-mail about e-mail abuse.

I kindly ask him to change his password from abc123 because it was a security risk. He, in turn tells me, "It's is own d*** security risk, so why the f*** should we care?"

I finally convinced him to at least create a sub-account with a new password, and he obliges me. Once we get that set up, and he starts using that e-mail address, he then starts prodding about why the original account was a security risk. I explain the whole security alert, and he then becomes irate that he would be accused of spamming because spammers could easily hack his account and send e-mail address, just because his name was on the account. And then he starts yelling over it again, and telling me how he thinks it should be, and blaming me over this.

Whatever. Finally get him off the call, and I take a break for a breather. I was trembling on this one, because I don't like being yelled at, and quite frankly, my natural reaction is reciprocate what I am experiencing.

And all through my breather, I debated about quitting. I just couldn't figure out how much my nerves would take, and how much longer I could stand it before destroying property, yelling at a customer, or killing someone.

My next 2 calls after my breather were simple transfers. My next call was a bad cell phone connection where the customer decided to call back later.

Then came my next call. A lady just giving it a go trying to set up her DSL by herself when her friend couldn't get it working.

When trying to find out what version of Windows she had, she had to move her plants off the desk to get her keyboard there, so she could type what I needed her to. She then started talking to her cat. Then she starts talking to me about her cat. A Tortoise-shell.

You have my attention. That's the exact breed of my two cats, which mean a lot to me. So we started talking about our cats, and going back and forth while she does this.

And the talk kept going with this lady over the course of the call.

Turns out, she was online, for some reason, it wasn't working earlier, but now, all she had to do was activate her account. Very straightforward, and I was about to cut the call off for the sake of my call time. She felt uncomfortable with the process at this time, and asked me to stay on the line. At that time I justified that by remembering that we almost never get the ActiveX controls on this page to install right, so we might have to do a manual setup.

I'm glad now that I didn't get her off the line.

As we went through the setup, she figures that is was just God's time to set up this DSL. Sounds crazy, but I think she was right. And yeah, I know that goes beyond any technical understanding or reasoning that I could apply to this. But I suddenly believe that.

As we got past the ActiveX controls, which amazingly installed correctly, she got to the point where she was able to set up her username and password. She was comfortable with that. I just gave her one fair warning: that the password must contain a number. Her response: "That's fine. My usual password's a bible verse."

I just felt myself calming down over this.

So I just let her know that I'd let her go, and thanked her for calling Verizon. And she told me, "Thanks for being so personable and patient. And God bless."

I couldn't get her off the call fast enough, as I was just breaking up.

I had to take another break to collect myself and get myself together. But this call was meant for me. Truly. I needed that one.

Every call that's made me bang my head against the wall, made me scream, and made me want to quit just seem meaningless now. Just because someone actually made me feel better while I was working. I had never felt that well after a call. She truly broke open a sense of peace at this job that I really needed. And I'm going to cherish that from here on in.

Maybe now I can start acting more Godly at work. Maybe now I won't feel miserable now.

I can't divulge names of my customers, due to our security policy. But I'll always remember her name. And if she ever reads this (I'm sure she won't, but if she does, she'll know who she is): Thanks. And God bless you.

another bonk

After watching variance rip me a new hole on Full Contact, I've decided to a game I could once play decently: Razz. Thus, it's about time for a deposit to Full Tilt.

It had been a minute or two (more like since November) since I played Razz. And lo, FTP has started running Razz Freerolls nightly. I am so there.

Simply put, the level of play there is simply donkalicious. I watched players at 400/800 fold to a 28 All-In bet in a 3000 pot. RIDICULOUS!

But anyway, 589 entered, 18 cashed. In normal circumstances (like a buy-in event), the payout would've been around 50 cashed. I played pretty solid, and made some great moves.

Unfortunately, the time caught up with me, as I grew more tired and careless, and I finished 54th.

I made the top 10% again. Which is not a bad place to be. It also reminded me that I can play Razz still. It took a level or two to get my feet back under me. It had been forever since I played a Stud-based game period.

But once I got going, I was counting the cards again, and running smart plays on my opponents, and saving myself bets in tricky situations. I only had one incredibly bad beat the entire tournament put on me, which would've been probably avoided had I have bet 5th street like I considered. Unfortunately, 6th street gave my opp. a draw, which she made on 7th to out draw me. I had her the entire way up until 7th.

That was one huge mistake that I'd like to have back, but it wasn't a costly one.

But all-in-all, I feel my comeback to Razz is going to be a lot of fun this time around.

Podcasting n00b

Yeah, this is a reminder of how absolutely dumb I can be.

Everyone on FCP has been raving about CardPlayer's The Circuit. And considering Mike Matusow AND Phil Hellmuth was going to be on tonight, it's a good time to start listening. So I navigated over to CardPlayer, and saw a link saying "Podcast" on their site. As you would too. Naturally, this is what I think I need to get into iTunes. So I click on it, and Firefox says, "This protocol is not assigned to any program."

Ok, I'll just go into Firefox's options and set that up. Not going to happen. There is NO option in Firefox to set this up. So now, I'm modifying the registry to get Firefox to open up that protocol in iTunes. Should work right.

...sometimes I wonder why I love technology.

After the hour spent figuring that out, it still doesn't work. So I'm on my way to calling Apple, except...support is closed. WTF?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?! NON-24 HOUR SUPPORT FOR AN INTERNATION COMPANY?!?!?!

Holy jeez. I'm seriously flipping out. Googling like crazy, and I still can't find the answer.

Until I did the following:

1) I opened iTunes
2) I went to iTunes Store
3) I search for The Circuit
4) I subscribed to The Circuit through the iTunes Store for free

Wow, I hate myself. I feel dumb.

Personality test

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Back to shorthanded limit

Ok, so I had pretty much decided two weeks ago to put a deposit down at FullContactPoker. I just wanted to start playing again, with no real goals in mind except for playing my best and learning from my mistakes. Those should've been the goals from the beginning, but at least I learned from that one.

But until my deposit to Neteller cleared (couldn't get them to accept my debit card, and I wasn't paying the fees on InstaCASH), I was playing around with the free money I got on Noble. I started out playing my usual game on the Ongame network (which FCP is a part of), .25/.50 Limit Hold'Em. Only, they don't have the tables I'm used to, so I settled for 6-handed tables. And I couldn't beat it! I couldn't fully understand the reason, but I'm apt to believe that it was the fact that this was a 6-handed table. It could also be variance at those tables, but who knows?

I wound up taking my money, and started playing heads-up SNG's on Noble. I got a pretty decent winrate off of them, but still am breaking almost even on Noble. Which I find hilarious.

Today, my deposit finally cleared, so I made my deposit of $50 on FCP, and went back to what is the norm for me: $.25/$.50 3-handed LHE. I so love the create table feature on the site. It's what sets them apart from other networks.

But even still, after my experience on Noble, I was kind of worried that I'd let my game sit enough that I was slipping, and should move down to .15/.30. I stood firm, and just before I sat in at my table, prayed that my game would still be where it was in January when I was regularly killing these tables.

And my prayer was answered. I only played one hour, I'm no longer conditioned to handle longer sessions yet. But in that hour, my account (that had 0.78 left in it after a hidden fiasco I had in February playing with Negreanu in a Pot Limit Omaha SNG w/rebuys) had moved to a total of $71.18 in it. So in one hour, I had made a profit of $20.40 altogether. And once again, was just absolutely killing the game, and (if my memory serves correctly) only one person left with a profit on the table other than myself, and that person nitted after turning quad sevens to double up.

My reads are getting back on track. Of course there were several misreads on my part, but I was not at all upset with how my reads were going. I was 60% locked in on one opponent, who was there for most of my session. I had it pretty much down to an art when he was bluffing the pots to pick up on it and take down the pot.

All-in-all, I'm very happy with this. And very happy to be back playing my a-game.

Attention: Indianapolis

*steps up to the podium*

STOP WHINING ABOUT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!

Seriously. This has been the topic of conversation all week. Everyone who has seemingly never left here is complaining.

I don't see what the big deal is, seriously. I mean, it could be that I lived in Illinois for 21 years, and had to do it every year. But...no. Indy people are just whining over nothing. It's a change, deal with it.

Yeah, I could understand where not changing your time would be a good thing. I went through un-daylight savings time up here last year, and fell right into it. But the entire United States is not going to change its ways just because Indiana doesn't want to. It hasn't changed its ways over this for a long time, even though most places in the world doesn't do it. Why would it change now?

But I guess what I couldn't stand the most was the people who had no clue what this meant, and how it was going to happen.

Like at work Friday night, it was after Midnight (so yeah, it was in all intents and purposes, Saturday), and this lady is just watching her cell phone clock.

I ask her, "Waiting for clock-out?"

She says, "No, I'm waiting for the time to change. It's supposed to change at 1:59 to 3."

Me: No, not now. It's supposed to change Saturday.

Her: But it is Saturday.

Me: Yeah, but you're not following right. I mean Saturday night.

Her: But it is Saturday.

Me: What I'm meaning is Saturday night. After midnight, which would be technically Sunday.

Her: No! It's supposed to change on Saturday!

Me: Listen to me! I lived in Illinois for 21 years of my life! I know how this works! It will change on SA-TUR-DAY NIIIIIIGHT!

Her: But it is Saturday, right?

Me: ....yes.

So I just let her keep watching the cell phone. And watching. Then 1:59 switched to 2. And she looked up from her cell phone, pissed.

Her: It didn't F***in change! That's all bulls***, they be lying!

Me: I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen.

And I clocked out.

And I bet on Sunday, she woke up with all her clocks running on Central Time, completely torn up over the fact that DST got ruined for her.

back to the tables

Reading through my e-mails, I decided to take a look at my e-mails labeled "Poker" (I set my Gmail up to filter my e-mails, go ahead and archive any poker e-mails and label them as such). I found that Noble Poker gave me some bonus money to screw around with.

Yeah, perfect.

So I sit for about 1 1/2 hours in .10/.20 LHE, and play good (6-handed, as always, I love them shorthanded tables), and wind up ahead $11.

So, just shortly after that, I enter a $5.50 1000 Guaranteed tournament. A little short of $200, and I do so-so. I was up and down before the first break, but wound up doubling up and getting to a healthy $4000 stack at the break.

Unfortunately, this is Noble we're talking about. Their structure does not provide for deep play after the first break, as even on an average stack, I'm about 10 minutes away from having bad M, with the blinds 100/200 and soon to increase to 200/400.

Near the end of the first level after the break, I raise on the button with AJo, with the Ace of diamonds, making it 600, and the BB calls.

Flop comes QJ9, with the QJ of diamonds. He checks, and I bet, making it 700. He calls, announcing he has top set. Bogus. And I know it.

Turn comes the K of diamonds, giving me the royal flush draw. He instantly moves in on me. Now I'm positive that if I make any of my draws, I've got the hand on lock. Plus, the way this hand has played out, it's hard to believe that he played this hand any way except to steal the hand from me, so my 3rd pair may be good. So I call.

He turns up AT for the nut straight...yikes! Not at all what I expected. So I'm needing a diamond to win, or a ten to chop. Blank on the river, and I'm crippled.

I'm all-in later in the big-blind with 10-3, and don't improve and it's over.

So it's been humdrum in the games today.

The tank & my bass

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. Work's been exhausting me, I haven't really had a whole lot of energy to do much else.

Yeah, so I got out of training officially Friday...with a 96% average in the class (highest in the class). And this week is our time taking calls in the training bay (aka "the tank.")

90% of people told us that tank was Hell. 10% of people told us it was no sweat. Let's see, which odds are you going to bet on?

So needless to say, I had mixed emotions about going in there. I thought I knew enough, I'm a decent multitasker, so I'm not scared of messing up on the tools. Of course, what you aren't prepared for is people screaming in your ear because the internet's broke.

That was the part that scared me. I can handle stress and all that, but one thing I've never handled well was arguments. Even if it's one sided, someone yelling and blaming their entire life on you because they can't get online is still an argument. I was afraid of how I'd react, whether I'd get emotional over it, you know the drill.

So I've been praying all this week for the strength to handle this situation well, and in best case scenario, I won't have to deal with any (even though I'd rather get it over with in tank, so that way a supervisor's on hand to keep me calm).

So far, no angry customers. Only slightly peeved, but hey, it happens.

On the first day, I was just flustered for most of it, and had horrendous handle times...as expected.

Over Tues., Wed., and today, I have just been knocking it out of the box! I'm really getting the hang of this, and really starting to keep my call times low, and get resolutions on their issues done.

And in all truth, I'm enjoying it. I get to mess around with people's systems, it's pretty easy, and I can just pace around taking calls, and running over to my computer to type notes as needed. There's enough challenges to keep me interested, but enough reptitiveness that I don't have to frustrate myself.

Customer's reactions have been good too. People have given me mad compliments over my performance, and several people in my training class have basically jockeyed for position to get seats next to me in tank because they believe I know everything about what the job entails (think again).

So come Tuesday, I start my regular schedule, fully on the call floor. This should be interesting.

And on Tuesday, I got my six string bass. I freaking love this thing! I haven't played with it as much as I want, but comes this weekend...man, it's on. I'll also have pictures, and maybe even a video of me playing it up too.

Until then...

First paycheck...

And so starts the fun of the first paycheck. Now, I'm being responsible...and I definitely gotta watch myself, since I got myself in big trouble just writing checks, so have a debit card could kill me.

But so far so good. Today, got my check cashed, then I went to Old Navy to replace a pair of pants that got huge holes worn in them from the washer within 3 weeks! Well, that was no sweat. Then, on to get some food. That was all good, then Jake took me to this half-price bookstore in Castlteton, which sells used movies, books, games, cds, whatever.

Yeah, just point me to the CD section. And I picked that place clean. But, I only wound up with 3 CDs:

-Newsboys: Going Public
-Justifide: The Beauty of the Unknown
-Songs From the Penalty Box vol. 4

Now, Penalty Box wasn't my original intended purchase, that was:

-OC Supertones: The Adventures of the OC Supertones

Unfortunately, I got a glimpse of the bottom of the CD...it was so mangled up...wow. Yeah, that went back in a heartbeat, to which I found Penalty Box, and had the lot rang up:

The total damage: $6. Now how pimp is that?

Then, to Best Buy just to look around.

Then to work.

As soon as I got home, I placed my order for my bass. So that should be arriving in 2-5 days. There's always an air of excitement when your new instrument is on its way. It's absolutely incredible. You just sit until that truck arrives with that instrument, and you don't care what was on the docket for the day...screw that, and strap that sucker on.

That reminds me, I need to buy a strap for it.

Man I can call them?

So, today not only has Hyunsil told me that she won't be able to come this summer (which, as you know from reading my stupid blog, I predicted), but has also gotten back with her stupid stoner boyfriend (which, I hadn't muttered aloud, but had pretty much guessed it would happen).

And surprisingly, I'm not shocked or pissed about any of this. Nor am I let down. Quite frankly, I gave up on caring and hanging on everything she says or does two weeks ago. And I haven't went back. I don't see this fully killing our friendship, but it could. Right now, I just feel like putting her on my block list right now, just because I don't want to hear anymore right now. I'd end up taking her off soon...but I just don't want to hear from her right now.

The good thing is that I'm through this. I was through this before I even really knew there was something to get through.

I'm smart. I've realized that it's her own mistake, not mine. Maybe I could've cared a little less and saved myself some hurt, but that's just not the kind of person I am.

Whatever, I just see about a 2.5% probability that we would ever get together. And that's ok with me. There will be something better.

So today, I get to go get my paycheck, and tonight, I put in the order for my bass. I'm psyched about playing that thing...and showing it off.

I'll post pics of it in my hands...most likely on my Myspace (link's on the right side of the page).

Also, yeah, I felt stupid maintaining 3 blogs, so I condensed them all. Once again, my attempt to combat multi-blogging.

I can take a joke but...

Oh, come on this has gotta be the lowest low I've ever seen in advertising.

MTV2 (& probably even MTV) are now showing new advertising for Wonder Showzen. I had already deemed this show the end of TV...period. The show is probably the worst show ever. By that, I mean, blind people would be giving their TV's the finger over it. Honestly, I have taken dumps that resemble better Television programming than Wonder Showzen.

But just when I think this show can't stoop any farther down, here comes the advertising for their new season.

They start off with a home video someone, then start out in one of those anti-drunk driving campaign commercial...where they say "this person was killed by a drunk driver, on Friday, March 31st...

"the same night as WONDER SHOWZEN!" And all of a sudden it goes into this giddy stoner comedy.

ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC! HONESTLY! How in the world has this not been pulled off the air yet?

Seriously, someone should've actually had figured out that this was crossing the line. But oh wait, I forgot, this is MTV we're talking about.

Honestly, whoever made this commercial: I doubt you'd see the sick twisted comedy in this spot if someone YOU cared about was killed by a drunk driver. If you did, you need to be shot.

I hope to God I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I should be a negotiator

Seriously, I feel clever as of right now.

So here's the thing, my trip to Korea in April is just not going happen. Just simply put, not going happen. I'll now explain what the crap is going on:

Well, as several people now know, I got employed by CallTech, a company that handles telecommunications for companies. In short, I'm tech support now.

Now, that's all good, but that still was going to put me on a very tight budget on my trip. I really needed a second job.

In January, Meijer called me, and after looking over my application, they wanted to interview me. Well, I went in, and all they did was have me sign a background check form. That's all I heard. I wound up calling back soon after, and the department that wanted me had its funding cut, and therefore my application was put back at the top of the pile.

Again, that's all I hear.

I kid you not, THE Friday of the week I got on with Calltech, I was getting ready to leave, and got a phone call from Meijer wanted me for a job as a stockboy on their morning shift. Since I work nights at Calltech, that sounds great. I'm gonna be hurting for sleep until the weekend, but whatever.

That night, after I got home from work, I call Hyunsil to lay on the good news. And man, is she happy. She gushed over this info for quite a lot of the phone call. And...so was I. It was big news. I was finally going to get to go to Korea to see her.

Saturday. I'm online at about 9PM, and she jumps online, and tells me she's filling out her visa application to come over here to visit (forgot to say this, and it's important: she told me on the phone Friday night that she wants to come here in July). Well, that's dandy! Then comes the shocker. "My place may be too small, I don't know if you can come in April....blah blah blah...I'm going to go meet some friends, I have to go."

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Seriously, she has known about this place for one month. And all last night, she was ecstatic about me coming. Now she's not so sure that I can come?

Well, working two jobs, I'm going to be safe on money. So I write her off an e-mail later saying, "Look, if you still want me to come in April, I should have enough money to stay in a hotel if I have to. Just let me know."

MONDAY: I get home from work, and she's online. So we start talking, she asks me how work was, then hits me with this: "You can't come in April. My place is definitely too small. All my friends agree. Call me Saturday afternoon (her time, not mine)."

Now granted, I'm talking too, but WHAT IN THE WORLD?! In 72 hours, she's gone from not being able to wait for me to be there, to now she doesn't want me to come? This makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

So I had of course chalked this up into the whatever file and put it away, moved on, and just thought, "whatever happens, happens." I also quit Meijer, because, quite frankly, what's the point? If I'm not going to get to go to Korea, which was the reason I needed that job in the first place, why should I exhaust myself at both these jobs?

So then last night I write up that blog about the bass to cheer me up (which, considering I'm not going in April, is going to be purchased). Also that night, I was talking to a friend, who has heard the whole scenario since the beginning of last summer, and told her the entire thing. And she couldn't make any sense out of, either. Thank God I wasn't the only one.

But I said this to her, and this is very memorable: "I guarantee you, she'll have changed her mind when I call her."

I shut down my computer and go to bed. I wake up to find that she didn't even wait until Saturday to tell me so.

I log into my Gmail, and there sits an e-mail from her, telling me to come in April, only a shorter period of time, and I'm staying somewhere else, like a motel or something. Where have I heard this before?

NOW I'm frustrated! This is worse than Ross Perot's 1992 Presidential Campaign! So I'm frustrated, and my mind thinks up all these messed up scenarios like:

1. What if I book the ticket, and then the week before I'm supposed to get there, she cancels again, and I'm now stuck with a worthless $1200 ticket?
2. What if I make it there, and she never shows up to pick me up from the airport, and I'm then stuck in a country where I know very little of the language, know really no one other than her, and am just miserable the whole trip because what I've waited for 5 years for got flushed down the toilet?
3. What if she just wants me there to see "what it's like to be with a white guy," and then shafts me afterward? (Yes, my mind thinks this stuff up, and other people say "this is a valid reasoning.")

Oh, but don't worry. I wasn't planning on actually doing it. I mean, come on, man! First off, I had already said it would be a pinch if I was going on just one job's salary STAYING WITH HER. So there's no possible way I could book even a cheapo motel for 15 days.

But, I'm supposed to call her Saturday. I told her I would. So at midnight here, I pick up the phone and call, knowing it'd be around 2PM there. First thing out of her mouth was, "Did you get my e-mail?" I fibbed and said no. So then she explained the whole thing to me. So I dropped the bomb about quitting Meijer.

"Why?"

Um...duh? You told me not to come. What's the point of working two jobs for the sole purpose of guaranteeing I'd be there if I'm not going to, you know, be there?

So then she asks about my passport, which is the money I'm going to be using to buy my bass. So I told her I bought a bass with it. Yeah, still fibbing, but hey, I'm still buying it, so what's the point?

Again, she asks why. So I explain it again. And then I make mention of how confusing she's made it, since sometimes she wants me there, sometimes she doesn't.

So then I asked, "Do you really want me to come?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well....um, I really want to see you, and try to figure us out."

So then I thought of something. The visa.

So I bring up the fact that as far as I remembered, she was still planning on coming here this summer. Which she confirms. So I bring up a new idea:

She comes here, then after her trip is done, we can go back together. Which she thinks is a wonderful idea.

So thus ends the problem. This is open-ended. Do I, at the present moment, believe that she will seriously come here? No, I don't. Am I prepared to keep up my end of the bargain if she does? Yeah. If she proves this, then yeah, I'm ready to do it.

But right, now, I have no clue what's going on with her. I just know I defused this entire situation.

My big splurge...what to do...

So, I'm no longer going on vacation in April. Yeah, that sucks. Whatever, that's a topic for ANOTHER But, I now have some spare money to pamper myself a little bit and make me feel better about not going. So, my dilemma is now this: What to get.

And for about 4 years, I have been salivating over the thought of playing a 6-string bass (Thank you very much, Tye Zamora of Alien Ant Farm). Of course, I had to build myself up to 5 strings in 2003, and then instantly, I began to desire the 6-string even more.

I also have history with Rogue basses. A good one, actually. Some say they're cheap, but I have enjoyed my Rogue basses. I've had two of their 5-strings, one I sent back because the nut broke on it, and it was under warranty. The one I got back was its replacement. And I love it.

So, when you see a 6-string bass from Rogue for $200, you kind of just stand up and take notice. I sure have. Plus, reviews from Musician's Friend have been good.

So now, this bass just taunts me. BUY ME! BUY ME! I so want to. Tell me what you think guys (Click the pictures to see larger images, all images courtesy of Musician's Friend):













Don't those pictures make you as happy as me? Come on! Active Jazz pickups, 4-channel EQ knobs, string-thru body...just wow. And this is about the one out of only two times where I've really wanted a guitar with a natural finish (the other time was a Warwick, so that's definitely understandable, although completely currently out of my price range).

If you want to read reviews, and more about this pretty little thing, go here.