Okay here is the big test using wordpress on my iPhone. The goal is to post a movie from YouTube and also a still picture all from my phone.
My first test subject is my pal, Duke. He’s a cute pug.
Video:
I hope that worked the copy and paste worked but I could not edit the link. Anyways here is a still picture:
As some of you already know I’ll be in Las Vegas from July 5th through July 9th. I’m very happy with the travel arrangements and accommodations and fully plan to utilize the new bribing skills I learned at www.frontdesktip.com so I can get a complementary upgrade for my hotel room! Muahaha, I hope it works, it’d be pretty cool to pull something like that off. I’m very excited to be meeting some of my very best online poker friends including (in no particular order) BW07507, ChuckTs and Zachvac. These guys and I have been chatting since Jan of 2008 and it’s the first time any of us have met any of the others in person. The best plans are no plans in Las Vegas, so we’re just planning to play a crap load of poker and have a great time. There’s a bunch of other great people from CardsChat.com coming, in addition to meeting up with fellow rounders Vizer02 as well as my fraternity brother Pat McVeigh who plays small stakes hold’em at various strip casinos.
In preparation for my Vegas trip I’ve done something (yet again for the ump-teenth time) drastic with my online career – I’ve gone back (roll eyes) to playing No Limit Texas Hold’em in the 9-handed full ring format. Wow! Why? Well I wanted to get practice for how the format and play will be in Vegas, in addition to how bad people play the game. Coming from a 6-handed perspective, and even some Omaha, has really given me a good perspective on aggression (thank you 6max) and hand reading (thank you Omaha). The experiment is going well so far, meaning that I am feeling comfortable with the game and am making solid reads and plays. PLEASE let that hold up for two weeks!
I am excited to report that the entire time I’ll be in Vegas I’ll be updating my blog, hopefully twice a day. I found a great WordPress application for the iPhone, and it supports picture embedding so there will be pics involved. I will also figure out a way to get YouTube video in the posts too, so video will be a part of things hopefully. I am totally loving the iPhone 3G S, and the video capabilities alone made it a worthwhile upgrade.
So in the meantime you’ll find me writing like a madman for the almost dozen publications I do content for, in addition to grinding full ring games at PokerStars and on Absolute Poker (although it should be noted that I am not icemonkey9 on AP!).
I guess I should give the obligatory hands to show off … here we go … and by the way – POKER HAND REPLAYS !!! WOOT! They took my suggestion to put in VPIP/PFR/AF in the replayer! Sweeeeeet!
The Good!
Won a stack on a coin flip. Yay for me!
The Really Bad
The bad here is both my play and the result. With two overs and a flush draw I really should have jammed the flop on the raise, but I called instead. Okay fine. The flush fills, and I guess not betting that card is fine since it gives away the fact I nailed the flush. The button bets, and I should have jammed this for sure, but again I wanted to slowplay my hand. Arg. Finally on the river I do a *terrible* less-than-half-pot “value” bet and of course, the button calls … with the Ace high flush! WTF?! I guess he doesn’t like STACKS OF MONEY. Anyways good thing he called I guess. What a biff for everyone involved.
Two Uglies
What can I say … I got him to get it in and I was ahead, he had 7 outs I think … and hit. It happens, and fortunately he was on a shortstack.
Ugly #2:The Reason I Hate SNGs and MTTs
LOL what a rollercoaster that ride was. I thought I could have some fun at the donkey Sit and Go tournament … wrong! First I see his AA and I was like “CRAP!” then I see the K hit the flop for the over-set!!! Then I saw runner-runner hearts for the villain’s winning flush. WTF. Anyways, I am always reminded why I don’t play these things as soon as I play them!
I haven’t updated the old blog here in a while and I do apologize for that. As my freelance writing career gets more and more successful I am finding less and less time for updating blogs, reviewing video games for GamingIllustrated.com, or even just playing some poker. Obviously though, spending time at what makes me the most money-per-hour is time successfully spent. Anyways I don’t have a specific topic in mind this time so I’ll just post some random stuff…
New iPhone 3G S
I picked up the new iPhone 3G S last night and man this thing is slick. I used to have the original first generation iPhone so some of the 3G features are new and exciting to me. I’m not all that happy paying $30/mo just for the data plan, but I use my phone so often for work now it seems like a necessary investment. This thing is screaming fast and I can’t wait to see some of the new games that come out for it, as the hardware now for the iPhone exceeds the Sony PSP. Even better is that the phone has a WordPress application so I can update the blog straight from the phone, along with embedding pictures and video I take with the phone!
Omahahaha
I want to play more … I really do. I just don’t have the time! Arg! Omaha has still been going up and down and back again all month long. The good news is that right now I’m up, just not a lot. I put in my first session at PLO50 ($0.25-$0.50 blinds) and won decently, but the thought of quick 5-buyin swings is just scary once you start playing for some decent money. I’m beginning to miss Hold’em a bit, especially after goofing around with Curtis at 25nl and just laying waste to the competition.
WSOP Main Event Qualifiers
For reasons completely unknown, I have take a few shots at some of the micro-stakes mega tournaments that offer up Main Event qualifiers for this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event. So far, I’ve obviously not gotten the job done but I plan to try a few more ways to at least get into PokerStars’s $650 qualifer, mainly through the Steps single table tournaments. Those Steps games remind me of the 210fpp tournaments I used to play so hopefully I can get on a run and get into the big qualifier where 25 seats are guaranteed, if not more. If I defy the odds and karma (good grief I run horrible in MTTs) and actually qualify for the ME, I am not sure that I’d actually play as $12,000 would go a long way these days.
Vegas!
I will be in Vegas from July 5th through the 9th and am really excited to meet up with some friends, specifically from CardsChat whom I will be meeting in person for the first time. That should be a tremendous experience, and I am really happy also about meeting some friends from other poker communities, poker industry movers and shakers (business meetings) as well as friends who live in Vegas year-round. I have decided that the best plans for Vegas are no plans for Vegas, outside of the appointments I plan to set up that are business in nature. I’ll definitely be at the Rio a couple of times to check out the ME in action.
I’m facing a weird dilemma with this post. For the most part I’ve wanted to keep my jump into Pot Limit Omaha pretty much a secret. For one thing, as someone who has been known to tilt once or twice in his life (lol) Omaha is a tilting-variance game so it doesn’t seem like a good fit. Second, I’ve put a lot of time, effort and coaching into my NLHE game and to not use it seems like a waste. Third, when you tell people you play Omaha game they either call you a gambler or just look at you like you have the bubonic plague.
I made some good cases for Omaha in a couple of articles I wrote for pokernewsdaily.com which you can read here:
- Omaha Manager Released
- Falling in Love with Pot Limit Omaha
There’s a lot of people that think that PLO is the future of internet poker with Hold’em games getting dry due to the dwindling number of fish and increase in information on how to get better (quick) at poker. It’s like Sammy Farha said, if Hold’em is the Cadillac of Poker, then Omaha is the Corvette. If you know me, you know I’ve always driven a sports car, and I’ve always wanted a ‘Vette! 
So to move the story along, I’ve been playing PLO25 during this “NLHE Break” I’ve been on for a week or so. I’ve learned some interesting things about the game, including:
Unfortunately at my favorite online poker community, CardsChat, there is basically zero there in terms of Omaha discussion and theory. I tried starting a thread which had some interesting life behind it at first before dying in about a month’s time. I don’t normally speak highly of the 2p2 forums but in this case, the Omaha guys seem a cut above the rest of the site. I put out a somewhat cheeky post titled “Will You Be My Omaha Friend” where I explain that out of all the poker friends I have online, only one plays Omaha and that’s just not enough to stay sane. Fortunately, I got about 7 great responses from people that were similar to me, playing PLO25 or so, trying to get the hang of it and build a big bankroll (you need 60 to 70 buyins per level at PLO) and move on in stakes. So, I’ve made a bunch of new friends specific to PLO which is great news.
Again, I am not totally sure how long this adventure with PLO will last. I imagine if the US Government finally legalized online poker the fish would come rushing back mainly to NLHE and I’d immediately go to where the fishy action could be found. For now though I’m enjoying poker and making money, which means my poker expectations (despite the game) are being met.
The last week has been spent grinding PLO. I know. All this study and labor into 6max NLHE and here I am playing a gambler’s game that’s swingy as hell. Well, after tilting off four Benjamins I needed a change, and PLO has always been my “break game” and this time I am taking it seriously after finding out how much some of my friends that play microstakes are winning. Will it stick? Who knows. Am I having fun? Yes!
The game is definitely one that will induce swings in the bankroll. For example, I was winning at a 15BB/100 clip for about 3,000 hands to start things off. Needless to say I was very happy. Thoughts of moving up PLO stakes and playing this game danced in my head. Then it happened! Naturally, not only did I not win flips but the inevitable “Lost a 75/25″ and “Lost a 86/24″ and “Had the 2nd Nuts for a Boat to lose to River Quads” stuff happened (twice in one case). That suddenly beaming 15BB/100 has plummeted to 3BB/100. But then I figured it was just a few bad sessions and moved on … so then yesterday I went over to my friend’s Flag Day party where we watched our hometown Lakers beat the crap out of the Magic. After the game, we played a $.10-$0.25 cash game there at her house with the 7 of us. What happened is that for about 1.5 hours I raised pre-flop 3 times total (the game was going SO SLOW because of noobs ugh!) and two of those times hit TPTK, only to have my HU villain have a set. How the heck!?
So I came home, ran bad again playing PLO. Sucked! Played a $2RB into the WSOP ME … got my pocket pair cracked by two unders. So I stopped playing, did some work and watched some poker training videos. It was time well spent and then headed to the baseball field as I am in an adult league. The previous game was the first of the season and I went 4-6 with a double, 4 runs scored and an RBI. First three at-bats of the game the ball is FLYING off of my bat … right into the gloves of the outfielders who were playing me deep FOR NO GOOD REASON (I suck). Trying to hustle I ended up straining my quads terribly … the pain was significant. I sat on the bench and the thought, WOW, when I run bad, it seems like it is always a one way street. I don’t just run bad at one thing and then run good at another and it all evens out. It’s either all good or all not good it seems!
I know a lot of people say that it’s the opposite for them, that when they are running good in poker they are running bad in some real life thing. For me though, it’s all one way baby!
To wrap up this post I also thought, hey I got one more at-bat how about we put a good ending on this game to give some hope for the blog! So I get up there, strained quads and all and then hit a GORGEOUS line drive base hit to center field!! WOO! At least I got a hit, and that was something to be very happy about when I got home. Something to build on. Something to say, hey, I’m turning this thing around!
Walking in brimming with confidence I am greeted by Duke (my pug) and Sampson (my cat). The cat had barfed all over the laundry room, and Duke decided it was a good time to lay a HUGE crap by the screen door and piss under the table.
FML 
If you remember my blog entry regarding the ridiculous deposit caper, you’ll now realize I was actually hinting at a story that I was in the process of breaking for the last week and a half. It wasn’t hard to do the math, with Instant eChecks suddenly being taken off the site (brutal for the games) and then paper checks cut by the major poker rooms bouncing left and right. The kicker in this case was the absolute deathly silence by the PPA and both poker rooms regarding the matter and once I started investigating, it became plainly obvious that something major had gone down. Although when I alerted my editors at pokernewsdaily.com about what I believed to be happening I was somewhat put on the backburner, in a days time my story suddenly got #1 priority. I have site editor/manager Dan Cypra to thank for his support and lending his resources to me for my research.
Although I can’t reveal all my sources that assisted my efforts, I am honored to be the individual that broke the story for the poker industry about the US Government seizing bank accounts belonging to payment processors. They did so, according to the PPA, without as much as a seizure warrant – which would be a blatant disregard for constitutional rights. The US Attorney’s Office out of New York is citing the Wire Act (circa 1964) as their means for acting but at the end of the day, with all the legal gray area in regards to “Gambling vs. Poker” and the UIGEA, there’s no way to know where either party really stands.
The PPA has finally come forward now that they have a prepared statement and gathered their resources to start fighting the acts of the US Government in court. It looks like the ammunition is in favor of the PPA with a slew of legal victories in multiple states where poker playing was attacked – such as the recent bid by the state of Minnesota to block internet poker (among other possible internet activities), which was recently dropped.
For years since the UIGEA was drafted, we’ve all been waiting for the legal showdown to determine poker’s legality in the United States to finally get out of the gray area and into the light of day. The issue is one mostly met by absolute indifference by most of the American public, with this story not even cracking the CNN.com top-15 stories (some of which included a puppy rescue, a 100 year old woman eating at McDonalds and a story about birds diving and attacking people walking to work). The point is most of the American public could care less if people are playing online poker, and if you suggest to them that it can be regulated (prevents industry fraud) and taxed (raising sorely needed revenue for states) they are all for it. The only people against it are the hardened right-wing side of the government who are dogmatically rooted in the “moral fight” to keep “gambling” away from children. Their arguments rest around “fighting money laundering to keep funds away from terrorists” and “keeping our children safe from the evils of gambling addiction” which are both over-sensationalized attempts at propaganda to swing the average person (who again, cares more about old ladies eating at McDonalds) to think that legalizing and regulating online gaming is something we should avoid at all costs.
I salute the PPA and am very happy I became a paid member of the organization some months ago. I know that the very small contribution I made is now working towards a voice in Washington that would otherwise be unheard in our democracy. The big fight for our online freedom has finally come and history is about to be made. I’m glad that I had a very tiny role in bringing the truth to light and (ideally) help jump-start people to become activists for their cause.
Unfortunately this is another sucky post in terms of “how I am doing at the NLHE tables” for recent play. The results at the tables have been horrendous and I think I’m more upset about realizing how tightly wound up I am and how tilted I am playing at the NLHE tables these days. Hit a string of coolers + cold cards = weak passive play tilt-a-thon. I’m spewing now, so I know it’s time to quit playing Hold’em for a while. The thought of looking at HEM right now makes me sick. The good news is that before things got really ugly, I got myself away and did a nice good honest reflection of how things were going. These periods of tilt/bad-play come up for all players and the best possible way to approach it is to calm down, assess what’s going on and then take appropriate patient action.
I wish I could say it’s a string of horrible beats but the last few days has been plainly bad play. A good friend and math genius, C9, was really cool enough to do a video, where the tough love came out and really exposed my “confidence-tilt” for what it is right now. I’m doing just the most random stuff like turn and river betting ridiculously small, and slow playing marginal hands at the flop. It’s like I decided to abandon the game I was playing last month and play terrible poker this month.
So, I’m down, it sucks more because it’s not bad beats but bad play this time – it just hurts so much more when you lose because you’re BAD at poker lol. Doesn’t feel good to admit it either. In the meantime I’m finishing up an investigation into a story to see if some of the major poker rooms have actually lost their means to have funds available for players. I’m actually pretty concerned about two sites in particular but I don’t want to post anything because nothing is concrete. However the fact that none of the major rooms will go on record or make any announcements is *very* troubling in my mind. Can’t reveal too much but the truth is coming…
You guessed by the title of this entry that today ain’t going to well for me. It started great, then the damn floor dropped out from under me. Here’s the worst hand of the day… villain is a 21/14/3 who folds to 3bets 55%.
You’ve got to be kidding me right? He calls a 3bet to $13 with 44 oop? AND HITS a set while I hit TPTK. Unreal. Anyways ya, have to admit that tilted me.
Here’s a hand against a 38/0/2 over a good amount of hands. That turn bet is just ridiculous … I mean really, he has 67 or 44 there.
Anyways when the game starts to speed up and I start to not think through plays I recognize I’m tilted and fortunately I just quit while only down about $112 which absolutely sucks but that’s life. June has been real rough at the tables and I’m hoping it turns around soon.
So I’m now in full swing at the new site with a 20 buy-in bankroll after being able to deposit (yet again) via credit card. Assuming my check from Stars doesn’t bounce (fun to be in the middle of THAT whole international controversy!) I’ll be sending my CC the necessary funds to cover the deposit which I got a 100% bonus on. I am now up to $1,800 in bonus money to unlock which unfortunately goes slowly but between the bonus money, points for cash and the rakeback at the site, I’m doing a lot better rewards-wise than I was at Stars. Does Stars care that they lost a customer that normally pays them about $900 a month (in rake)? No. They should though, I think I’m not going to be the last one that does this, especially if legislation gets passed to open up poker in the USA (for the love of SANITY I hope it does).
Anyways, to say the new site is full of bad regs and fish is an understatement. Saturday tables are naturally fishier than normal but today was just beyond the realm of comprehension. It’s like the “good” regs don’t like money. For example, this was against the “best” villain at the table (stats wise at least lol):
Beyond Reason and Sanity
Okay, so let me explain my play here. KQ suited from UTG+1 is really not normally something I play from there unless the table is weak/passive postflop which this one was. I get a two callers and my position sucks but I flop well with two overs and the King high flush draw. I was seriously thinking of the best way to get BOTH their stacks in. I figured if I led out that would be the best move, but I wanted to try to get one of these guys to bet at the flop and either flat to get all of us to the turn for action or just pop it up big time. Anyways I elected to flat which I really regret now but hey the hand would have turned out the same way. The turn I stick to the plan to try to get the pot to about $100 to the river which could conceivably be enough for all of us to get it in. The button bets $20 which I am really happy about, I flat and gleefully the other guy calls too and I get my wish of a big pot three way and we’re all still deep. I figured if I raise there on the turn it just *screams* made flush. The turn is a beauty in the 7 which fills the straight draws!! I lead out with a half pot bet thinking it’s a no brainer that someone comes over-the-top and we get stacks in (ideally all 3!). Instead Player 1 folds (WTF did he fold here!??! Why did he want to see the river if the 7 didn’t help him!?!??!) and Player 2 on the button FLATS … with … THE FUCKING NUTS!??! Are you kidding me?! LOL – again I’m in the weird spot of being shocked at my opponent’s cards and at the same time a little grateful he didn’t get the last ~$46 of my stack. Unreal! He typed in the chat, “honestly put you on the straight flush” which is just stunning. Anyways, weird hand, probably biffed the flop play but man what a weird result.
LOL at the villain’s hand
If you can explain the villain’s thinking and play here I’ll send you $0.25 on PokerStars. Seriously, something rational that I can believe please.
Well I finally got the deposit working (first try no less) on the new site but for whatever reason they put in the wrong amount, so after a chat with the customer service department to the tune of “hey why did you get the deposit amount wrong by $30?!” I was finally rocking and rolling. Unfortauntely I am still woefully short on my bankroll at the new site to be playing 100nl 6max, but I figured, what the hell, I know I’m good for the money overall so I decided to give it a swing.
The regs there are not good. I wouldn’t say bad but the good profitable regs there are a far cry from what I am used to. There’s a few “regs” there that are just beyond the realm of understandable. I think the contributed rake method seriously lets some players play a 50/1/2 game where they either flop the nuts or fold but get their rakeback either way. Too bizarre. Anyways these regs that show profit are 25/19 types that cbet like 50% of the time and tend to float too much, so it’s nothing I can’t handle.
Anyways, naturally during the first 100nl 6max session and underrolled at this site, I play one of the weirdest hands ever. Take a look! The villain is a 70/1/2 over a good chunk of hands (guess I’d seen him at 50nl):
Bet ya didn’t see THAT coming. I had such a wild mix of emotions. First – absolute SHOCK that I lost it. Second – mild amusement that he just flatted my min-raise at the river (lol at the value bet there, I figured he’d auto-shove if I did that while there was a chance he’d fold if I shoved). Third – Quick rush if I hit the bad beat jackpot but lol oh yeah that’s quad 8s or better. For fun I put the hand into pokerazor:
Now that is funny