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Eureka’s kind of hijacked this little old blog as of late, with his millions of posts and whatnot, but he’s not going out outshine this little black duck! I normally don’t play dress-ups, and also went to my first Halloween party. Enter Sweeney Todd, demon barber of Fleet Street.
Halloween isn’t really a big thing here in Australia. I mean everyone knows what it is, you see the odd kid trick or treating, but definitely nowhere near the big deal it seems to be in the US. That said, last night I went to my first ever Halloween party! I went as Mario and my girlfriend as Luigi. It was good fun and our costumes were a success, although the moustache was a little annoying. I’d have grown my own, but might have had to wait a few years. Here are a a couple of photos!
What’s up, y’all. Today’s entry is going to be a quick story of my biggest degenerate moment in my life. And frankly, it’s my only one. I’m not proud of this at all and want to make that abundantly clear, but hopefully it will be a decent post. Off the tables, I am a very nitty guy. I save all my money and rarely ever buy “stuff”. Also, when I drink…I don’t play poker. But then again, I don’t drink often. Well this story is about me doing both. And just to add emphasize this even further, this is 100% not a brag post. (No idea would actually think something like this ever could be, anyway.) It’s quite unprofessional to do what I did. Okay, on with it…
The other night, after making some small $5 bets with one of my roommates (IShipGirls), who is not a big poker player, on NBA opening night and drinking many many Ketel & Sodas…I decided to sit down and play some HU PLO. Obviously a sound decision. Read the rest of this entry »
Last Saturday night I played in my first live cash game since late June in Vegas and my first at Crown (my hometown casino) in about a year. Every major city in Australia is a one casino town and Melbourne is probably the best when it comes to poker. The room is pretty well run, although the rake is a little ludicrous at the lower limits, but I guess that is to be expect when the only competition is online. I was actually pretty surprised that the highest NL game they had going was $5/$10 and that there was only one table on a Saturday night. Chatting to a few other guys at the table, apparently with the advent of a $5/$5 game with $1k max buy-in has killed the action of $5/$10 a bit. Read the rest of this entry »
My Bets
$15,500 on A-League: Melbourne Victory v Adelaide – Adelaide @ $3.05 on BetFair
$15,500 on NBL: Perth vs Wollongong – Perth -8.5 @ $1.72 on BetFair
$15,500 on Tennis: Almagro v Chela – Chela @ $2.68 on BetFair
$15,500 on Tennis: Almagro v Chela – Chela 2-0 Sets @ $5.10 on BetFair
$15,500 on Tennis: Davydenko v Montanes – Montanes @ $3.25 on BetFair
$10,000 on PLin (AUS) 31st Oct – 17:20 R7 1350m Hcap – Rodeto @ $25 on BetFair
Read the rest of this entry »
This is an old post of mine from StoxPoker but something that I think definitely warrants re-mentioning / re-posting now that StoxPoker is no more.
I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is rather well off, and who used to play Poker recreationally quite frequently. Although he was ultimately a losing player, he didn’t mind losing a few hundred dollars on the weekend since he considered it to be ‘entertainment money’. Unfortunately, he is no longer interested in playing after a couple of heads up matches where his opponent decided that, in some way or other, verbal abuse gave him some hidden psychological edge.
As a collective, we should be promoting poker, as well as trying to create a fun atmosphere where one doesn’t need to understand every nuance and rule of the game in order to enjoy his or her self. When I was learning poker, and a total fish, I remember having a whole host of people willing to help me out, and to ensure that I was comfortable and enjoying myself. I’m seriously wondering if someone just starting out today would feel inclined to play through more than an orbit.
I really don’t mean to be so negative about this issue, but it seems like you can’t play at all lately without seeing somebody berating a player for their Ace high call on the river, making a snide comment about a poor pre-flop call with a hand like J2 offsuit, or making a scene when somebody pushes all in with a low pocket pair and sucks out.
If you are one of these people, please stop! If you see somebody making a play like this, relish the fact that, although you may have lost the hand to a poor player with poor cards, you made a winning decision and can be happy that the game of poker is alive and thriving. As for the age-old excuse that table talk will somehow cause your opponent to stack off against you lighter – nonsense! Any small temporary edge you’re gaining by tilting this opponent is offset by the fact that they’re more than likely to quit you earlier (increasing your chances of being hit and run), or won’t re-deposit once they’ve run through what they already have online. Instead, if you get sucked out, just reply with ‘nh’ and enjoy knowing that, although you lost your money, the chances having it returned are much better than if the TAG player down the road scooped the pot.
Whenever the LifeFish get together we like to have a busto home game where we drink, play a bit silly and have some fun. It’s been a while since this hand happened, I must admit my memory of the whole night is a little hazy. I think this is kind of how it went though… and by that I mean that everyone depicted here was dealt cards at some point in the night, except for Zachvac and RaiderDuck who weren’t even there. Read the rest of this entry »
Although many people assume it will, playing poker for a living doesn’t mean you aren’t still working full time. To do it, and do it well, you’ll need to be putting in similar hours – you’ll just get to choose when you do them. It’s a typical grandiose notion that professional poker will release you from the shackles of the rat race, but you still put in the hours, you still have to be wise with your money and accounts, and you still have to pay taxes. Essentially, you put on a new set of shackles – provided you see normal life as being chained down.
Before you consider playing poker for a living, make sure you really love the game. You may think your job is repetitive now, but multi-tabling poker all day can be just the same. You should also take into consideration what future opportunities you have in your current position – is it really worth giving up a potentially good long-term career for what could possibly be short-term money and freedom?
However, if you have strong self-discipline, and the ability to critique yourself (this is a particularly handy skill for post-flop match reviews), then poker may just be for you.
So you’ve played a few hundred hours of poker online, have an established win-rate over a large number of hands (250,000+), and want to take a shot at becoming an online poker professional? Where do you go from here?
First of all, think about how much money you would be comfortable with having in reserve. Now double it. Having far more money at your disposal than you need not only decreases your risk of ruin, but will help you cope with those inevitable ‘down days’ that much better. You’re not going to profit every day – and if you don’t know this before you start, you should reconsider your decision – and having a large amount of cash in reserve is nothing but a good idea.
Secondly, what are your expectations? How much money do you want to make, and how many hands do you plan to play each month? When you first go from having a 9-5 job to what may start out feeling like an endless weekend, it’s very easy to start slacking off and not playing as often as you should. Have some goals to help keep you focused.
Third of all, what are your pre-session and post-session routines? When you were working you presumably had a routine. Whether it was the drive to work, or a morning coffee, you would have had something which mentally prepared you to work. As a poker professional, having a pre-session routine will help you to mentally prepare to play your absolute A game. A good example of a pre-session routine would be to wake up, have a shower and breakfast, grab yourself a bottle or glass of water and then start locating good tables. Post-session routines aren’t that different – this could be opening a video site and watching some videos, or posting hands from the day on TwoPlusTwo. Either way, your post-session routine should help you to close off your day until you start again tomorrow.
This past weekend has been a blast — Lacie and Ricky stayed with us in Seattle the past few days. We did a myriad of things, including the Seahawks game, Pikes Place Market, Space Needle, and partying at night obv. I’m going to do a more comprehensive trip report blog post in a day or two, but in the meantime I thought I’d post what we thought was an incredibly interesting hand. This hand happened late last night when we found a good 10/20 game. Sure doesn’t hurt to have a few smart poker minds on your wing!
Both villains in this hand are very, very good 10/20 regulars. Don’t want to say too much about it, because it’s a cool hand to digest.
Full Tilt Poker $2000.00 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter
BTN: $6413.00
Hero (SB): $2134.00
BB: $3609.00
UTG: $2000.00
MP: $2000.00
CO: $3390.50
Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is SB with 8
7
UTG raises to $45.80, 2 folds, BTN calls $45.80, Hero calls $35.80, 1 fold
Flop: ($157.40) 7
4 8
(3 players)
Hero bets $120.00, UTG calls $120, BTN calls $120
Turn: ($517.40) Q (3 players)
Hero bets $400.00, UTG calls $400, BTN calls $400
River: ($1717.40) Q (3 players)
Hero bets $1568.20, UTG folds, BTN folds
Final Pot: $1717.40
Hero wins $1714.40
(Rake: $3.00)
Good luck on the tables gentlemen.
This probably isnt the most interesting hand to our midstakes+ viewing audience but here goes. CO in the hand is a solid reg and BTN is a HUGE fish. My flop bet is standard, we get the fish to call with a super wide range (gutters, ace high, any pair) and the reg is going to be folding the majority of his range. I think the turn is where the hand starts to get a little bit interesting and I think we need to be aware of our bet sizing because we still have one more street to play, our hand isnt the nuts, and we are OOP. We do have the benefit of not being worried about being raised by worse hands so we can basically make our sizing optimal to the situation. I choose to bet $100 into $245 for the reasons mentioned. I also need to make sure that I dont value town myself vs Q2o so I want to keep the pot semi small. I think the river is the most interesting part of the hand and I think making a “gay bet” is a solid option in this spot. Villan has demonstrated that he is willing to call down with bottom pair in similar spots during this session. I still feel like I can get value but again I dont want to value town myself vs a weak hand that is ahead of me, but I also dont want to have to check and call a pot size river bet (this was his standard bet when checked to).
Full Tilt Poker $5/$10 No Limit Hold’em – 7 players DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter
UTG: $2813.00
UTG+1: $1347.95
Hero (MP): $1000.00
CO: $1005.00
BTN: $5300.80
SB: $3265.50
BB: $1282.00
Pre Flop: ($15.00) Hero is MP with J T
2 folds, Hero raises to $30, CO calls $30, BTN calls $30, 2 folds
Flop: ($105.00) Q T 5
(3 players)
Hero bets $70, CO folds, BTN calls $70
Turn: ($245.00) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $100, BTN calls $100
River: ($445.00) K (2 players)
Hero bets $110, BTN calls $110
Final Pot: $665.00
Hero shows J T (a pair of Tens)
BTN mucks 7 T
Hero wins $662.00
(Rake: $3.00)
@CooperFerries @blackrockfc @bzibba @corydurie @sashagilberg @theeurekakid didn't get a chance too, board member, #solideffort
@Marty_Wicks @BlackRockFC @BZibba @corydurie @sashagilberg @TheEurekaKid RMIT board meeting tonight Marty. Kick any goals tonight?@CooperFerries @blackrockfc @bzibba @corydurie @sashagilberg @theeurekakid any reason you were missing coop?@BlackRockFC @BZibba @corydurie @Marty_Wicks @sashagilberg @TheEurekaKid bus leaves at 9:45am sharp! Cmon ROCKERS!
