Year in review

Ok, so i know this is the one you've all been waiting for, so here it goes...

I'll start with fulltilt....i hate you!! nah, not really, but i've bascially stopped playing there for the time being. I deposited $400 probably around may and curretnly have about $1000 in there. But seeing as i got a $400 bonus, plus some rakeback...i really played breakeven poker, but ended up up about $600. My year end ROI for multi tables there was a disappointing -12%...not disgusting, but it was at least positive most of the year. I still play the occasional tourny there, so we'll see what they have in store for me for 2008.

Bodog...i hate you lol...again, i don't, but like fulltilt, i've bascially stopped playing there too, however bodog was really good to for a while! I deposited $100 bucks in there around mid 2005...i currently have like 900 in there (i was on a $800 downswing when i pretty much quit bodog). The good thing about bodog is that i withdrew $900 to buy a laptop in august...so no matter how bodgo treats me from here on in, i only deposited $100 bucks in there, and now have a decent laptop! That being said, i'm sure i'll get back to playing there, becuz i did really like the bodog mt's...that is where the bulk of my money was won ( and the bulk of it was lost playing cash games there)

Absolute poker...i don't even know you, and i hate your guts! HAHAHAHAHA

Pokerstars...my new home...well, i deposited $400 about exactly a year ago, and today my bankroll sits just over 6k! I actually have made 1 withdraw and 2 money transfers worth about $350, so that 6k is almost all white meat. I can break down the 6k a little bit. For the year, i won $2287(that's profit) in multi tables with a ROI of 43%. Kind of went on a downswing in december or it would've been higher, but hey, i'm happy. Sng's, which i really didn't even play until around June i won $1925 for 2007. This is what i'm most excited about! I really feel like sng's are going to be a MASSIVE bankroll builder for 2008! The rest (just under 2k) came from cash games...mainly nl hold em until very recently.

All in all, it was a good year, and i'm extremely happy looking back on it. If you would've told me in exactly 1 year after droppping 400 in pokerstars i'd have 6k, i would've thought u were insane...apparently not! I had 1 huge score in multi tables which is pretty much where most of the profit came from, but man did it feel good sitting at that final table!! Sng's are just my bread and butter...sometimes they seem tedious and boring, but when it comes down to it, they build my bankroll...i went from playing the dinky $5 sngs in june, to playing $30 sng's today and ready to dabble in some 50's!! (oh baby!!)

And as i sit here sipping on my protein shake that i'm sure my roommate spit in (HAHAHAHA, yes i did see 2 episodes of chapelles show lastnight in case you couldn't tell) i look forward to 2008. i planned on also putting my goals for 2008 in this post, but i have to get ready for work, so i'll post that either tomorrow or tuesday (can u say a 10k year????)

Thanks for all the support and the few railbirds i had...i'm looking forward to gaining more readers and railbirds in the future

Murph

Variance

Won $240 yesterday...lost $120 today...variance is a &*#%*.

Very quickly, i'm really starting to become more turned off to multi tables. Played in 2 yesterday, in the one i had 88 vs 66 vs 44 all in pre flop (the 44 was the last to call the all in...very nice call sir!)...6 on the river...gg murph. The other one, i had JJ cracked by 77 all in pre flop...it's really starting to get old!!

Ok, next post will be year in review...taking a nap now

Murph

Back to the mainland

Farewell Jamaica!! Had a great time in Jamaica, i won't bother getting into it in the blog, but we sucked out on the forecast seeing as it was 85 and sunny everyday!! Only negative thing was the fact that i got stung by a bee (who gets stung by a bee once u reach the age of 11????)

So my girlfriend was SUPPOSE to fly back home sunday night....so i took her to the airport around 4, and got back home around 430....fired up good ol pokerstars and bought into about 50 bucks in tournies...about an hour and a half or so later, she calls...still at the airport, saying her flight was cancelled, and i need to come get her (DAGGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)...50 bones wasted!!! Thankfully, i had a decent stack in one of them, and by the time i picked her up, and actually got back home, i was still around the chip avg...my g/f is awesome, so she let me play in it when we got home and i ended up cashing...so it wasn't a complete lose, but still a dagger!

So, i've bascially jumped ship on playing hold em cash games...i have found the new goldmine (omaha8 on stars)...i know last post, or maybe 2 posts ago, i said i was gonna play some 1/2...but, i've decieded to play some 2/4 now, and its going pretty well since i've been back...i've found a couple of FISH that ALWAYS seem to be playing, so i usually look for this 2 or 3 guys and try to get at their table...today, the one guy was playing 20/40!!!!!!! AND 1/2!!!!!!!!!!! Very strange!!! i'm holding steady at 2/4, but i may even experiment with some 3/6 if i see this fish there and i'm feeling good!

So, next post i'll do my year in review which i know you've all been waiting for lol...but it looks like December is going to be the 1st month since my g/f moved away that i'm going to have a negative ROI in multi tables...i know, there are still a few days left, but i don't really think i'm gonna be able to play any becuz of work...oh well...it's only a very small ROI and maybe that means a big win in Jan.!!

Ok, that's it for now i guess...pretty lame post for not posting in nearly 2 weeks i know, but hey, what can ya do!

Murph

The ultimate bad beat

Ok, this will probably be my last blog for at least a week...g/f is flying into town tomorrow and we lave for Jamaica Monday morning, so, i'm thinking the following Monday may be the next blog...we'll see.

So you're wondering what the title refrs to? AA vs KK on a AKK72 board????? WRONG!!! How about the forecast in Jamaica next week is rain everyday....pretty sweet!!! I was looking forward to coming back with a MONEY tan, and its suppose to rain everday!! Oh well, i'll just have to hope it turns around...i ven settle on just 3 sunny days!!

So, these past 3 days, i've gone back to playing omaha8...this time though, i'm playing some 1/2 limit. I've realized limit poker...in all its forms...is truly the ultimate grind!! For 3 straight days, i've put in about an hour each day, and won about 20 bucks each day...which is a solid win rate, but the thing about limit poker is, you're never gonna have a 4 buy in day, or anything even clos to it. It's satisfying to book a win solid win rate 3 days in a row, but its frusterting that they wer only 20 bucks each day! I may decided to try out some 2/4, but the play seems so bad at 1/2 that it may b more profitabl to just play 1/2.

I go through phases while i play poker, and right now, i'm totally not feeling texas hold em...i'm running like shit, everytime i pick up a hand, everyone folds, etc etc etc. Thats the beauty of having more then 1 game in your arsenal...when u gt sick of one game, u can just play the other!! I strongly reccommend this to all poker players...branch out a little bit....experiment with some other games!! There is so much more to poker then just nl hold em!! Not only may u find out your actually better at say stud or omaha, but its the perfect cure for running like ass in hold em (which happens to ALL OF US!!)

Ok, gotta jet...wish me luck with my flights (i'm the unluckiest guy EVER when it comes to airports) and pray for warm, sunny weather!!!!!

Murph

ps for some reason, the "E" key is sticking on my laptop, so i'm sure there are 10001 typos in this post (mainly words missing an "E")...so don't think i was drunk while posting this!

Update

Just a quick one...ended up coming in like 110th in the $10 rebuy...don't play in this tourny too much since it can get expensive, but i ended up making about $105 bones for it. Thought there were a few hands that i could've gotten more money out of, but opted to just get paid off instead, although i swear, near the end, EVERY SINGLE TIME i picked up a decent looking hand too push with, i got called, 3 times on the button i had an ace and pushed, and all 3 times, somone in the blind had a bigger ace...i did suck out once though but man, if i at least could've won one of those pots...who knows what could've happened!

Lastly, this is how good i'm running...VERY first hand of the tourny, i pick up 44 in the BB, utg+1 makes it 90, so i call, flop comes 10 7 4...i bet 200 into him (hoping he has an over pair), he INSTANTLY moves in (so i know i played my hand to perfection now) he flips over JJ...running hearts..gg murph...that was one of those really fun tournaments that all the pros talk about

Murph

The "P" key

Hey, its been a little while since i last updated...not much has happened...i've hemmoraged some money in multi tables, came close to a final table the other night, but i've been a losing player since last months 900 score...got a big night ahead of me tonight, so maybe i can go deep (lastnight, i busted out of 3 tournies holding pocket QQ and all 3 times no overs came came on the flop, so i've been getting cold decked big time lately!!) Sng's are still my money maker though! I'm starting to think about playing in a few $50 sngs!! We'll see though, 50 bucks is a pretty big jump from 30...i think once i crack the 2k barrier on sharkscope, i'll play some 50's!

So i went to the mall today for some Christmas shopping...was there for about 2 hours, bought 3 things for myself, and came home HAHAAHA I seriously couldn't find a sinlge ting to buy for ANYBODY!!!! Looks like i may have to go with the online shopping route...

So next week i'll be gone all week...in JAMAICA BABY!!!!! Looking forward to just relaxing and chilling on the beach for a week...i hope they have a good wireless connection there becuz i can't go a week without poker....HAHAHAA yeah right, i'm pretty sure my g/f would break up with me on the spot if i brouhg the laptop, so that means no poker next week!! I'm actually kind of looking forward to the break, i figure i can come back 100% refreashed!!

Quickly, i'm in borders books today, and i'm walking over the the sports/games section looking for any new poker books (yes i'm a loser) and as i'm walking over, this old brother drops the loudest BOMB ever right int he section!!!!!!!!! So, there was no way i was standing in that section now, so i wait about 10 minutes, and go back, and if i didn't know any better, the dude literally took a shit in the section it smelt so bad!!! So, i just left!! It was hilarious, yet at thesame time GROSS!!

Ok, off to the gym...late!

Murph

p.s. the title...the stupid "p" key on computer is like pseudo broken...i have no idea why, but u have to hit it extra hard for it to work..strange

Multi tables blow!

Played 965 multi tables tonight, and cashed in 2...and 1 really doesn't count since it was a horse tourny (which i ended up taking 10th out of like 300). Had my KK cracked twice to bust me in 2 of them...all in pre flop KKvs1010 and KK vs 77. Busted out of another when my AA lost to KQ all in pre flop, and busted near the cash in the $5 rebuy when my AK was no .match for A7 (he raised on the button...i pushed all in from the sb....and this guy called like he had 2 jokers....nope...A7). Anyway, they are becoming increasingly frusterating, and a final table SOMEWHERE would be nice!! I've got another big night planned tomorrow, so we'll see what i can pull out...

Cash games i'm on a major heater lately!! made a SICK overbet when this guy raised pre flop...i called with 66, flop came 245...he checked, i bet 8, he called....turn was a K, he checked, so i checked...river was the 3...he checked...so i bet 40 into the $20 pot...he insta calls with his A...tyty!! He actually had AA and he could not have played them any worse!!! Although, later i did lose my KQ of diamonds to A4 of diamonds for a cool $230 pot....so sick!

I'm not really feeling inspired right now, so that top 10 list is not happening tonight...i will be giving my year end report any day now since its been about a year exactly since i opened my pokerstars account. I have all but stopped playing at bodog and rarely play at fulltilt (i played a cash game on fulltilt the other day...in 45 hands...i ran my kk into aa TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i couldn't be running any worse on fulltilt...so F it...i'm bascially sticking with stars for now!

My goal is to get the bankroll over 10k...which in all honesty i think i could by the end of the winter, however, i've decided to start withdrawing like $200 each month and use this to help pay back my student loans....i really don't want to cut into the bankroll...but i would feel so much better knowing my poker winnings are going to a good cause, other then just sitting online. I'm a tad worried about the cashout curse since i've never made one on stars, but i've made them on multiple other sites with no effect...so i'm not too worried...plus, its 200 bucks...its not like i'm taking out thousands.

Ok, that's it for now...

Murph

Another day another dollar...or hundreds of them lol

I've been on a roll these past 2 days baby!! Yesterday i won a quick hundred playing a bunch of sng's and today i played 3 sngs and got a 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd!! The big money has come from cash games where i won about 300 today!! The cards seem to be hitting me in the face, and it's wierd...i kind of feel bad about it, like it's not my good play that has won me the money, its just me catching cards...not bad, but i dont know....strange...like i'm just getting lucky to hit good cards, which is the most absurd feeling EVER to have...hence the reason it's wierd!! I know there are a few big pots where i left some money on the table and those 2 hands are kind of bugging me, but i can't really explain it ( just calling on the river when u make your flush is such a nitty play....yes there was a paired board, and it was only a 9 high flush, but i KNEW i had him beat)....oh well, i'm well over due for having a nice heater like this, so i'll enjoy it while it lasts!!

Anyway, i'm very pissed at my poker tracker/laptop right now!! So i won a $213 pot when my kings held against ??? and literally seconds afte this hand, my computer froze...so after i restarted it, and fired up my poker tracker again...the hand was gone!!!!!!!! Like i've said earlier, i'm a stats oriented person, and i like being able to look at how i'm doing, how i'm playing certain hands, etc, and not having this monster hand on there sucks!! Not to mention the fact that the $200 pot would take me out of the red in my .50-1 limit lol Oh well, i know it happened, and my pokerstars bankroll definaetly know ti happened, and that's all that really matters! lol

Ok, i'm gonna take a quick nap before work, but it was suggested to me by one of my readers errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr my one reader lol....that i need to do something to spice up the blog, like a top 10 list of some kind, so next blog, i will have something new for you...until then may all your cards be live and your pots be monsters LOL

Murph

Poker has been berry berry good to me

So i played 3 sng's today..1st in a $30, 1st in a $20 and 7th in a $20 when my KK lost to 82 offsuit....yup, flop came 962 rainbow...he checked, i bet, he raised me, i made a huge push all in (this was at the 15-30 level) and he called instantly....at this point i figured i was dead to a set...nope, he calmly flips over 82 offsuit (which by the way, he called a raise with) and proceeds to hit 107 for the straight....gg murph!! I decieded to call it a day after that booking a nice $140 win only playing 3 sng's

Lastnight was a funny night. So i'm playing a sng and it gets to heads up...after about 5 minutes i can tell this guy is pretty good and he asks "hey, did you get divorced or break up with a g/f about 6 months ago"...so i'm like "what r u talking about"...he says "judging by your sharkscope, thats what it looks like" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA i just about died laughing!!!! I told him he was bascially dead on and my g/f moved away about 6 months ago (for those of you who don't know, about 6 months ago, my sharkscope had my sng winnings at about -300....now, they sit well over $1000) I couldn't believe how funny that was that this dude nailed it dead on! When my g/f moved away, it left a whole lot more time to concentrate on poker, and play a lot more...hence my sharkscope ROI being over 20%...anyway, thought that was rather funny...later in the heads up, he asks me if i've ever played zelda....so i tell him yes, way back when....he says he feels like he's at the end of the game, where you have to fight yourself HAHAHAHAHAHAHA again, i dead laughing saying that was one ofthe best references i've ever heard (if you never played the game....just trust me, this is very funny) so i ended up finally beating him when my KJ outdueled his A5....it was a crazy heads up though becuz it literally took 20 minutes, and the blinds were up to 400-800 at that point!!!! I looked him up after, and he had over 10k in earnings on sharkscope, so i went to bed feeling good!!

Ok, thats it for now, gotta had to ork...i've got tomorrow off, so lets hoep for big things!

Murph

Logic

So after donking away a few hundo playing some .50-1 cash games these past few days, i did the most logical thing...moved up to play some 1-2nl...and proceeded to win 360 bones!!! It was pretty sweet! Caught some big hands, and finally got paid off on them ( i think that has been one of the main reasons i've been losing at .50-1), before today, i hadn't gotten paid off on ANYTHING!!! Yesterday, the only 2 sets i flopped, i managed to lose both of them, each a $200 pot and man was i steaming yesterday!!! But after getting paid today on a couple sets, justice has been served i guess. I actually had set over set flopped on me, and managed to only lose 22 bucks!!! I played it very cautiously becuz i knew something smelt fishy, and sure enough, he flopped a set of 5's and i floppped a set of 2's....good thing he played it like a complete donkey

So sng's i couldn't be running worse...i really cannot count how many times i've been sucked out on with like 4 or 5 guys left...every single time, i push with a10 or aj...i get called by some shit like k9 or q10 and lose...yes, they haven't been gross suckouts, it just seems like i've been losing a hwole lot of 65-35 hands, and they always seem to happen with 4 guys left!! It's becoming VERY frusterating!!

ALTHOUGH, i actually hit a 1 outer today on the 2nd hand of a MT. UTG limp, a few guys called, i was in the cutoff with KK, i made it like 140, button calls, and UTG pushes (it was only a ffp tourny for the bahamas, so i say f-it, i'll call) and the button calls, UTG has AA, i have KK, and button has AK...so i have 1 king in the deck...and i rivered it LOL...then, becuz i can be a huge dick, i started ripping him for playing it like that....i've never seen so many f bomsb on one screen in my life from this guy...gg bro!

lastly...if i hear one more person say 30 degrees and windy, or 25 degrees and snowy is perfect football weather, i'm going to kill someone!!! This is not perfect football weather, this is BRUTAL football weather...i know, i played!!! 69 and calm is perfect football weather. I'm not sure where anyone thought up the idea of saying freezing rain or snow is perfect football weather, but i would bet the house they never played the game...and if they did play the game, i'd be willing to bet even more these ppl. never actually touched the football in a real game (linemen). So never again do i want to hear someone say when its freezy cold and windy "today is a perfect day for football" becuz you need to give your head a shake!!!

Murph

Sharkscope

Qucikly

My sharkscope is REALLY pissing me off lately!!! I have 2 wins that for some reason, just aren't showing up...i'm a stat oriented person and when i see them short changing me...grrrrr lol

Murph

Mr 2nd place

Got off the #$*& wagon today and came in 2nd in a big multi table for just under 900 bones!! It was the $16.50 buy in with 360 ppl. Played really solid the whole way from start to finish! Cruised into the final table 2nd in chips and pretty much just took my share of blinds until ppl started to drop. 3rd and 4th were busted in 3 hands, and next thing i know, we're heads up. $1300 for 1st! I've got about 120k in chips, he has like 450k...i seriously didn't see one face card the entire heads up!! The blinds were relatively low so i wasn't sweating it, eventhough i was almost 4to1 outchipped. Blah blah blah, i finally saw 77 which looked like AA at this point and pushed, he insta called with A5...the rest is history!

It was a strange tourny though. There really wasn't a single point in the entire tournament where i felt really nervous. Usually when i get close to the final table, and especially the final table, the nerves start going, but they really didn't today. In the long run, i think thats a good thing becuz i'm becoming more comfortable playing for thousands of dollars and i won't play scared next time i get back to a fianl table!

Ok, gonna play some cash games, then i have to goto bed early tonight, if anything significant happens, i'll post about it, but don't expect one.

Murph

ps the bankroll is at an all time high right now after leaking away a few hundo these past few weeks

IT"S GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE RED PEN IS GONE!!!! I woke up this morning and my roommate left me a note...in red pen, and now the pen is gone!!!! She must've taken it with her... What the H am i going to do LOL

Murph

It's all in the pen

Gonna keep it quick, but i think i've figured out the sng slump...played in 4 today and had 2 3rds 1 2nd and 1 1st...the problem u ask??? I was always using the same red pen to write down my results....about a week and a half ago (right when the slump started) i lost the red pen and started to use a black pen...today...found the red pen and voila!!! I should write a book on this type of stuff!!

No big scores today...played an assload of MT's and cashed in a few, nothing big though...tomorrow will be more of the same....hopefully the results will change though.

Murph

ps yeah no more PCA for this guy...i just can't stand to play THAT nitty...blinds get to 50/100...everyone is still around, and now it turns into off to the races, its the gayest thing i've ever been involved in, and as u move up steps, it becomes nittier and nittier...so yeah, played my step 5 today, came in 8th when my AK lost to 66...pretty sweet

KILL ME

Lost a cool 380 today...0 for 5 in sng's and lost about 250 playing cash games today..lost a neat $250 pot with AA when the biggest nut case at the table floppped top 2 on me...lost another $150 pot with my Ak vs AA on a A high flop...i F-ing hate poker

Murph

The dreaded disconnection

The subject bascially says it all. Is there anything more horrific then getting disconnected when you are playing deep in a sng or mt??? I'm an idiot and very lazy, so eventhough i bought my new laptop about 2 months ago with a defect in it (the defect being it WILL freeze within the first couple hours of turning it on...this is a given), i still haven't brought it back yet. Anyway, i'm playing 3 sng's...one of them i'm in 3rd with the 3 left, one i'm 3rd with 4 left, and the other one i'm heads up with VERY big blinds at this point....FREEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice timing!! By the time i log back on, i've already busted in 3rd in the one, and i have 1 bb left in the heads up match lol...the sng with 4 left....i was now in 4th with 2 bb's...i was just sick!! I really need to take this back to the store and have them look at it!!

Anyway, don't really feel like blogging today, so this is gonna be it...ended up losing about 25 bucks today...whatever...playing some mt's tomorrow, so maybe i can make a final table or 2

Murph

Correction

Well, technically it was 1 3rd and 1 1st....as i wrote my last entry, i had my last sng running, and just assumed i'd bust...i ended up winning it, so that was a MUCH needed 1st...still an awful day though

Murph

I run so good

Played 11 sng's today...7 $20 and 4 $30...and had 1 3rd place finish....you do the math...the suckouts...OFF THE MOTHER @#%$&*%$ CHARTS!!!

Murph

Round up

So, i got back from AC sunday night, and monday morning flew to visit my g/f, so i haven't played any poker since the weekend...i finally got back home Wednesday night late (around 130am) and immediately donked off a quick 100. I knew i was running good when within 5 minutes of starting my sng, i pick up AA, raise, get re raised, guy pushes, another guy calls, i call, and the original re raiser calls, 4 guys all in on the 1st level...i was up against AK twice!!! and QQ...clearly a Q hits and i'm drawing dead...welcome back to poker Murph! Including lastnight and today, i have flopped the STONE COLD NUTS 4 times, and taken down none of them lol...not onl have i flopped the nuts 4 times, i managed to get all the money in the pot on the flop!!!!!! I've deciceded i'm taking a few days off from cash games...i'm on mega tilt right now, this halfway stems from the whole AC debacle, but i've been running so bad its not even funny!!

On the bright side, i won another step 5 today!! So now i've got a step 4 and 5 in the bank, lets make something happen with these!!

On to more sweet luck...Played a $20 mt today, and we were down to 2 tables...1.4k for 1st, and i'm in 3rd loving life...until 3 hands later...3 times being whored by pokerstars, and a 15th place finish...AJ vs A7...AJ vs Q10 then my JJ of course runs into QQ...gg murph

Onto AC...
So we get there around noon on sat. and we decide to play at the trop...after about 5 hours, we go get something to eat from the noodle bar (not really, but it sounds a lot better) and i'm up about 200 feel AMAZING!!!! At this point i've played some incredible poker. One hand that saved me my stack was when i layed down my pair and flush draw on the turn for only 25 bucks becuz i KNEW one of the 2 guys behind me had a bigger flush draw...sure enough, my spade hits on the river...2 guys get it all in, and my read was right, the guy to my left had a bigger flush, and my fold saved me my stack! Anyway, i'm crusing along with about 750 in front of me when i pick up KK in the sb. UTG who is tight raises to 15, one guy calls, so i make it 48 to go, utg calls, other guy mucks. Flop comes Q84, i bet 90, this guy pushes for like 200 total...now i knew he was tight, and figured he had QQ or possibly AQ but i can't lay it down, i call, he has QQ, $500 his way! This was a dagger. So this throws me off my game when near the end of my night, i flop a jack high flush...yada yada yada, board pairs, gives this DONKEY who limped with QQ a boat, and he stacks me (don't even get me started on this guy limping with QQ). So i call it a night ready to kill someone stuck 300.

Wake up around 9 the next morning and head back to the trop looking to at least break even for the trip. (i'll makethis as quick as possible). 2nd hand i sit down at (the retarded trop opended a new table with only 6 ppl) i pick up 74 of clubs, i limp, guy next to me raises to 7, i call...flop a flush he flops his ace, turns his Q and pushes over the top of my 100 bet on the turn with 2 pair vs my flush...it holds and i'm back to even for the trip baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So now my stack is at around 650 and it just leaked until a stormed off berating this pregnant women after sucking out on me with 195 bucks...so for the trip i'm stuck 400. BUT, on day 2, i've never seen so much bad luck in my life. I flop trips, other dude flops 2 pair, so as i'm ready to take his whole stack just like anyone who flops trips vs 2 pair, except, i fill up on the turn, only to give this donkey a bigger boat...nice 2 outer bro (and he slammed his cards on the table...i was ready to fight...so that was a nice 380 pot that should've come my way). Mix in many hands like this, and my final hand of the weekend i have 68 in the sb, flop comes A68...i bet 15, get 1 caller (i KNEW this chick had a weak ace), turn is a 2, i bet 38, she calls...river..the beautiful A of spades, giving me the powerful 3 pair...i bet 20, she calls...turns over A4, i was counterfieted, $120 her way.

I've become very jaded with Atlantic City. I'm a winning online player becuz i play literally every single day...almost. So i can overcome the variance of running bad, or having a bad day becuz i know i'm going to playing again tomorrow. BUT, when i goto AC once every 2 months or so, i can't overcome the variance. If the cards aren't falling my way, there is nothing i can do. I have to try to play through it becuz i'm going home the next day. I play live poker maybe 5 or 6 times a year, and if it just so happens that the cards are not gonna fall my way for these days, i'm going to get crushed (like i have the last 3 times i've been to AC) Oh yeah, by the way, sunday, i picked up kk, QQx2, JJx4 and didn't win the pot a single time...VERY nice.

Anyway, i know this is long and actually as i've been writting it, i've lost 30 bucks playing horse lol. But poker can be the most frusterating game in the world...i love it, but there is no sicker feeling then seeing some donkey who cannot play is way out of a paper bag walk away with like 1000 bucks plyaing 1/2 nl in AC...I know eventually he will lose it, but i don't care. If he isn't losing it to me, it really doesn't matter to me. I'm sick of hearing ppl say u want to see these donkeys winning becuz they will give it back...who gives a shit???? i know i don't, especially becuz i'm sitting at home pissed off, while this donkey is losing my money to some other donkey playing poker for the 3rd time in his life. I just read an ariticle (can't remember where) and something struck me as very intellegent..."if luck wasn't involved in poker, it would be chess"...maybe i should take up chess...

Murph

Fuck Ac

See the Title...

Murph

Hee haw

Just donked off a hundo playing some semi waxed hold em...leaving for AC in 7 hours...

Murph

Feel the sweat

Currently in 1st in the fulltilt $3 rebuy with 44 left, 540 entries...$1100 for first...lets see some railbirds here! lol i'll post at the end and let u know


Well, came in 13th :( i truely am a donkey!! i actually should've busted in 35th....knowing a guy is weak is only half the battle, he still has to be able to fold his mediocore hand....lost a 340k pot, when 2nd place hand only 190k, when a guy called off his whole stack on 3rd pair on the river, i raised pre flop, and fired a bullet on every street, and put him all in on the river, and he called me down with 88 when the board was K106J3...i knew he was weak, so i figured put him all in, and he can't call....WRONG....WRONG...he just check call check call check call...then won a mosnter pot, i threw up when he turned over 88...fyi i had 44, after that hand, i had 1 BB lol...so i was looking at 1st in 44 left, to busting in 35...but i tripled up the next hand, and stayed aggressive, and hung on to finish 13th...i'm still very bitter about it, and along the way there were some GROSS beats, so the fact that i even made it this far is a miracle i think...oh well, so close to the blue lights, et so far...ok, playing some cash games now, this will probably be the last update of the night unless something insane happens

Murph

Big Night Tonight!

I'm expecting big things tonight!! I've got the night off, so i'll be playing a lot of tournamnets tonight and a big score would be nice....i'm not gonna get greedy though, i'm still flying high since the 2k win, but i really haven't done ANYTHING since then, so i figure now is as good a time as any to get back on the train!

Cash games have been going well...i really feel like the poker tracker is helping a lot!! Booked a nice $100 win lastnight on stars playing some .50-1. According to my poker tracker, i'm up about 150 bucks since i've gotten it....my favorite part is that i've lost like 45 bucks with the bullets hahaha....twice i have run into sets, one time we were all in, and he hit his two outer, the other time, the BB flopped a set of 3's, and played it VERY nicely betting right into me! I think i lost about the minimum the way he played it, so i'm not even mad about it, but taking down a f ing pot with AA would be nice!

So AC is booked, and we're good to go. I hate going on weekends though because i refuse to poney up 450 bucks for a hotel at one of the casinos when i could go on wednesday, and get the same room for 120. That being said, here was a what someone said about the place we will be staying this weekend in his review on expedia "I felt about as safe as a glazed donut in a free buffet line" HAHAHAHAHA this may be one of the funniest lines ever uttered!! Ya gotta love good ol Atlantic City!

Murph

AC baby!!

So, it looks like AC is a go this weekend!! Needless to say i'm loving life...lastime i went, i ended up stuck about 400, which i'm still very bitter about, but i figured i was due for a loss there, and hopefully i got it out of the way. I'm definately not playing at the Borgata either...i think i want to try the Trop again...i've played there twice, and liked it, but for some reason never went back after that 2nd time playing there.

Poker has been very up and down the past few days...bascially, my bankroll is the exact same as it was on friday, so i won't bore you with all the meaningless details. I did come in 21st in a omaha8 rebuy tourny though, it was a very strong finish seeing as there were about 400 ppl. and like 600 rebuys (i tripled up like the 4th hand, and never even had to re buy). I went all in on my lasthand with AQ24, and was called but some garbage like kq98 ( i was in a state of disbelief when he called and flipped that over), i missed the flop, and hit...gg murph.

Played in the $20 1 rebuy 1 add on yesterday, and was just crusing along very nicely until they moved me to a table with shaundeeb, and a few other VERY successful online players (i looked them up) and for the first time bascially ever, i felt outclassed at this table!! When they moved me, i was like in 17th, with 180 left, and 68 got paid, so i was loving life, but this table was NUTS!!! I swear its like my cards were face up!! You couldn't get a raise in without being reraised...it was just sick!! Then i picked up AQ, shaundeeb was to my right, of course, he riase like 2.8x bb, i re raised him a decent amount, and of course, he just instantly shoved on me...i was so pissed!! I knew he had like 7's or something shit like that, and to him, who was probably playing like 6 other big buy in tournies, this meant nothing...i decieded to muck, and live to fight another day...well that other day came when i was in the SB with QQ and about 9bb's, it got folded to me, so i push, and the bb slow rolls me with KK...gg murph! man i was f -ing mad!! I guess i wouldn't be that mad if i would've got a hand, and busted shaundeeb, but guys like that don't care...there is no point in coming overthe top of them unless your ready to call his re re raise all in...it was very frusterating because if they didn't move me to that table, i'm sure i would've cruised to the money...oh well

Ok, thats it for now...make sure you watch high stakes poker tonight...its the 500k buy in!

Murph

Step 5 baby!!!!

Played in $20 sng's today...2 first place finishes!! However, i gave about 45 of it back playing cash games....and i am OBSESSED with my poker tracker!! lol It's bascially the greatest invention ever!!

Played one of my step 4 tickets today...and won a step 5 ticket!!!! ONE MORE TO GO!!!! and i still have a step 4 in the bank...i think tomorrow is the day i'm gonna play my step 5 since i seem to be running/playing flawless sng poker!!

Murph

Poker Tracker

So, after well over a year of really wanting to buy poker tracker but never really feeling it was THAT beneficial, i finally bit the bullet and bought it...and i'm obsessed already lol. It's bascially the greatest thing ever invented!!! It really is hard to believe that it's even legal. Seeing as i just bought it today, i have barely touched the surface on what it is capable of, but i know i had the tightest player EVER sitting to my left, and i swear, i must've taken about 25 bucks in BB from him with rags. His stats said he defended his bb 5% of the time, and he only saw 8% of the flops...which bascially meant i could take his blind every single time!! So, that alone won me some money. However, i think i may have to cut back to 3 tables though because running 4 tables like a usually do, it just seems to hard to utilize the poker tracker AND play 4 games at once. Anyone with any type of knowledge on this, feedback would be greatly appreciated!

PCA update. I'm currently sitting with 2 step 4 tickets, and i think i'm gonna play them both tomorrow, and if all goes well, i can have at least 1 step 5! I can feel the Bahama's sun already!!

One bad beat story, and i'll wrap it up. So 3 times in the past 2 days, we've had all the money in, and i've been sucked out on GROSSLY...pokerstars is starting to whore me in cash games abit, but listen to this beautey! I pick up AA, make it 3 bucks in a .50-1 game, and get 3 callers. Flop comes J73 rainbow (perfect). It gets checked to me, i bet 11, next guy raises to 24, other 2 guys fold, and i re raise it 58...he sits there for a few seconds and pushed all in for 90...i'm a little learly of a set at this point, but its only 25 more, so i call...he flips over 88....yes 88!!!!!!!!!!!! So i'm loving life, until the turn comes...8...ARE YOU F ING SERIOUS!!!!!!!! River is a blank, and he takes $190 pot. I mean WTF was this guy doing...anyway, sorry for the bad beat story, but like i said, this is the 3rd 2 or 3 outer hit on me after i've been all in in the past 2 days....it's really getting old!! Thankfully in sng's today, i cracked AA twice in 9 hands LOL...once with KK, and the other time with KQ...both times i hit quads lol...so i can't complain too much, but i can a little.

Murph

Murph

Rebuys

Ended up stuck about 50 on fulltilt and about even on stars today...blah.

Onto the reason for this blog, rebuys. I generally play in about 3 or 4 rebuys a week, mainly the $3 and $5 rebuys on stars and i've made an observation. The first hour of the touny means NOTHING!!! I know this logic has to be wrong becuz so many of the pros go off in the rebuy period and build huge stacks, but i swear, i've probably cashed more times after the rebuy period with a low stack like 4 or 5k then when i end the rebuy period with a 20k stack. Can this be possible or has this just happened by chance?? I have to be wrong on this, but once again a few nights ago, built a huge stack in the first hour, only to be busted about an hour later. Some feedback here would be nice, becuase i'm almost at the point where i find it pointless to gamble in the 1st hour, when in the end, it really doesn't matter how many chips i have after the 1st hour...

Murph

Back to work

What's up y'all?? Finally back to playing some poker after taking the weekend off. I'm gonna keep this short because i'm dead tired.

Not too much has happened in the past 2 days poker wise. i'm up around 120 on fulltilt from some decent tourny wins, and some .50-1 omaha8. Pokerstars is going pretty decent too. I'm up about 200 bascially from sng's and a lot of cash game play! I really hope i can make it out to AC in a few weeks because i feel about as good about my cash game play as i have in a long time!!

On the negative side of things, going into today i had a step 4 and step 3 ticket...now, i have 2 F-ing step 2's!!! and i'm VERY pissed about it! The steps have become very frusterating and i have put a lot more money into them then i initially planned on. That being said, i'm still gonna go at them pretty hard, but i need to make a nice run.

Ok, lastly, if i have to see Papplebon do the riverdance one more time, the boston redsox may move to the top of the list for sports teams i hate the most.

Murph

Non poker blog

This will be the last day of the blog until at least monday :( i'm going to visit the g/f tomorrow morning and i fly home monday so that means no poker this weekend, which totally blows since i've been running well lately. It's ok though, i can't complain, because if she was living here, i'd only be able to play about a third of the poker that i play, so one weekend a month isn't that bad.

Played 2 $20 dollar sng's today, came in 1st in one and busted in 4th in the other when my AA ran into the monster A10 all in preflop. Went back to playing some omaha8 on fulltilt and lost 35 bucks....in 145 hands, i won 2 at the river lol I literally caught nothing all day.

Sometimes i feel like i'm braindead. There were about 3 or 4 things i thought about today that i really wanted to blog about, and now, i can't think of even one of them!! Oh well, if i think of them in the next 30 minutes, i'll post another blog, if not, see ya next week!

Murph

Step 4 baby!

Final tabled a horse tourny lastnight, came in my usual 8th place though :( I accidently folded the nuts for a big pot with 11 ppl left!! I don't know what came over me because i already had "raise any" clicked, and i guess i became possessed or something and just clicked fold...this retarded move bascially crippled me and i was lucky to get 8th...oh well, live and learn!

Won a step 4 ticket to the PCA worth 210 bucks today!! 2 more steps to go, and Bahama's here i come!!! I really feel like i have a chance to win this! Not sure when i'm gonna play it though, maybe tomorrow, but i'll probably just try to accumulate some more step 2's and 3's until i have 2 step 4's.

Didn't play very much today, lost like 30 in cash games but won 2 $20 sit n go's after getting shut out of like 4 of them the night before, so i've got my bankroll basically where it was right after winning the 2k.

Ok, watching the redsox, rockies right now, and flipping on survivor on commercials. I just can't stop laughing everytime they show Jean Robert Balland...i actually saw this guy playing online poker in the lounge at the Borgata about 6 months ago. I think that is when u have officially reached degenerate status if you're in a casino playing online poker. Thankfully i haven't done this yet..."yet "being the key word in that sentence HAHAHA. Speaking of AC, i'm gonna try to make it out there the last week of Novemeber, but it depends on my schedule, i'll keep u posted!

Murph

2nd place is no place you're off the team!

I had a really good feeling going into tonights poker session, and i guess you could call me Nostradomus (or however u spell his name lol). Had my biggest online score ever today with a 2nd place finish in the $10 1 re buy and 1 add on for a smooth $1908!!!!!! Back in the good ol days of sunpoker, i had 2 wins for approx. $1200 each, but this eclipses that by quite a bit! I just played some SICK poker the enitre tournament!! I really felt like i was in the zone for a good 6 hours straight!! Everytime i re raised, i would take it down....literally, evertime!! It was just one of those days where i could just feel the weakness everytime someone raised it pre flop. Without a doubt, it was my re rasising that vaulted me to the huge chip lead i had with about 6 tables left. I pretty much cruised to the final table and when we finally got down to the final table, i was in 6th and still feeling good!

Final table:
after about 2 orbits...i was in 9th and feeling ILL!!!! I COULD NOT catch a hand, or see a flop!! Everytime i picked up a decent hand (q10, kj) i would get re-popped and have to muck. I was already envisioning myself busting in 9th for 220 bucks...i think i would've tossed the laptop into the street if i actually would've busted in 9th. So at this point i'm feeling very off my game. Scared to raise, scared to bust in 9th, defiantely not the mind set u want to be in. Finally somebody busts out and i can breath a little easier, although at this point i'm still very nervous for some reason. Long story short, i basically hang around on the short stack until we're 4 handed and this is where something in me changed. 4th was getting around 900 and i said to myself, F playing scared, even if i bust now, its still a great pay day and eventhough i was severely short ( i had like 150k, one guy had over a million, and the other 2 had around 600k) i told myself lets play some sick ninja shortstack poker and win this. Well, we literally played 4 handed for almost 45 mintues. Back and forth the whole way. At one point i had around 700k and was sitting in a comfortable 2nd place....but then i was back down to 150k. (this may have been the best i've ever played short handed in my life...to hang around for 45 mintues being very short was remarkable becuase it's not like i was doubling up a lot, i think the entire time, i may have had 2 all ins...other then that, never had to show down). So eventually 2 guys get it all in, the big stack wins, and we're down to 3 handed. Again, chip leader has like 1.2million, 2nd has 600k and i have around 450k. It didn't take long for the big stack to bust the other guy nad next thing i know, i'm heads up!!!!!!! He's got about a 4 to1 lead on me though (1.7 mill vs 370k). Blinds were ENORMOUS at this point mainly due to the 45 minute 4 handed play, and i ran into KK and came in 2nd!

Anyway, that's basically it! For a good 2 or 3 months now i've been really feeling overdue for a big score and finally the cards fell my way! I'm on cloud 9 right now and it feels good! Eventhough i just won 2k, i'm not gonna jump into any crazy games. I'll probably still play the games i usually play $20 sng's, .5-1 cash games and anywhere from 10-25 multi tables. At least that is the plan now, we'll see if i can stick to it, but i've always managed my bankroll very conservatively, so i'm not worried. Ok, thats all for now, i'm gonna try to goto sleep, but i have a feeling i may lay awake in bed thinking about that 1st place prize of 3.3k that i was so close to.

Murph

Feel the sweat!!!

Curently sitting in 1st with 150k and second has 100k wtih 39 ppl. left in the $10 one rebuy one add on!!!!!!! $3300 for first baby!!! i'll keep you posted!!

Another day another dollar

Didn't play too much yesterday, played 3 sng's, came in 3rd twice (sometimes i have to realize top pair isn't always good lol) and won about 50 bucks playing cash games. Took some bad beats, delivered some bad beats, yada yada yada, so goes the grind of poker.

I've got the night off tonight, so i'm looking for a big score at some point today. I think i'm gonna play in a couple of bigger buy in multi tables then i usually do, so between that, and the 10 hours+ i plan on playing today, i'm looking for big things!

Didn't anyone see the absolute poker scam that recently was outed?? If you aren't familar with it, someone apparently cracked the system, and was able to see his opponets hole cards while playing!!!!!!!!! Yes, you read that right!!! This guy could see EVERYONE'S holecards. Needless to say he just CLEANED UP in some big tournaments. Eventually, people caught on to it (i think it took about a week) and absolute poker did an investigation into it, and sure enough, it was an inside job...someone working for abosolute poker!! (i may be getting a few minor facts incorrect here, so don't take my word as the law, but its damn near close to it lol). But yeah, opinons were very mixed in the poker community where some people just chalked this users luck up to variance, while others thought it was just impossible and someone had to be cheating. I actually just got done watching the video of one the tournaments he played ontube. (just type in absolute poker and it will come up, its a 4 part series with each part being about 8 minutes) and it is just HILARIOUS!!!! I'm not sure how the footage got posted online but you should do yourself a favor and watch it. I literally was laughing out loud at some of these plays he was making. I mean, you have to question things when this guy saw like %85 of the flops, and not ONCE made a bad call on the river!!! NOT A SINGLE TIME!!!!! Everytime he got to the river, he either folded, or raised....he didn't even call (why would he call if he knew he was beat, or if he knew he had the best had). I'm telling you, even if you don't watch the whole thing, just watch a few mintues of it. You will literally just sit there and shake your head!!

Anyway, for all the people saying i told you internet poker was rigged and thats why they won't play.....buy a clue! For 99.9% of the ppl. that play, we all play lower level games. Now if someone did have to capabilities to crack the system, do you really think they are going to play 1-2 nl???? or even 25-50 nl??? NO!!!! They are going to sit and the highest limit games that are be being offered, and just clean up. So, there is NOTHING to worry about!! Anyway, getting ready to make some dinner, and start my night with the $5 rebuy on stars!

Murph

The horror of the bubble

I was told by one of my readers (1 of the 2....if that lol) that this is starting to turn into a bad beat blog. I disagree somewhat, but givingthe readers what they want, i will try to avoid the topic of bad beats...starting tomorrow HAHAHA

So i came in 10th today (hence the subject of this post) and OF COURSE, was sucked out on to bust me!! I was in 6th with 10 left, 1 away from the final table and the blue lights when i picked up 1010 on the button. I had about 8bb at this point. One limper in front of me (chip leader), so i decide not to mess around and just push my 10's, not really wanting a call....he times out, and calls with 77...sweet right??? i'll be in 3rd when i win this....WRONG!!!! Flop came 357 followed by 2 rags and i was gone!!! I threw up all over my laptop!! The worst part of all was that we had been playing 10 handed for a while and there were 3 guys with 3bb or less just trying to hang on to get to the final table, so really, i would've amost been guaranteed something like at least 7th ($190) just by having those short stacks bust once we got to the final table. I'm still sick about this and it happened over an hour ago. I was staring at that $1500 for 1st and i was feeling great, but i guess it wasn't meant to be. That's the thing about poker, all you can do is get your money in with the best of it (80-20) is about as good as it gets...after that, it's out of your hands! At times this can work out in your benefit....but at today...it didn't!

I will say this about this tournament....my very aggressive nature sure paid off for me because since i had been raising a lot the whole time, and getting re popped a fair amount of times too, i had a nuts image, and there were at least 3 times where i had AA, QQ and QQ and was re raised all in by less then steller cards, and my hand held each time. Having a crazy image can be brutal when you are continually getting re raised and you have to fold, but wait long enough, and you'll get em!

Lost all my PCA tickets today lol. 3 2nd step and 1 3rd...oh well. Sng's went really bad today, so hopefully tomorrow is a new day!

On a roll playing cash games on stars. Won another $125 playing .50-1 nl. Again, my nuts image did it for me. I was caught making a really big bluff on the river with NOTHING, when the poker Gods shined down on me and 2 hands later i pick up AA and i got a guy to put it all in pre flop with 1010...tyty.

Ok, also from the suggestion box, i'm gonna make at least one paragraph non poker related. Why the hell did kevin millar throw out the opening pitch for game 7?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!? I thought they were joking when they announced him, but nope, sure enough, it was him! He then proceeded to call jacoby ellsbury, jacob, and he called Dice K something that was NOT his name...very smooth Kevin...go have another Milwaukee's best

Murph

Take the good with the bad

Well, my 2 main sites i use are going in opposite directions. While my pokerstars account keeps going up, my fulltilt account keeps shrinking. Didn't play too much today, but came in 2nd in a 45 man sng on stars for $100 ( i lost heads up to a guy whos sharkscope was comical!! He had like a -45 ROI, and was currently on "super tilt", i got it all in pre flop twice with the best of it, both times was sucked out on, and just couldn't recover). Also won like $120 playing cash games. Bascially won it all on one hand. UTG made it 3, i had QQ in middle position, i just called, and the button re raised to 5 (i won't even start on how bad of a play this is). Flop comes QJ9, but all hearts. UTG checks, i check, button bets pot (i'm no longer worried about him having AK of hearts seeing he bet so much), so utg folds, and i make it 75, button goes all in, of course i call, he has AA, but with the A of hearts, somehow it holds, and i took down a monster pot. It's nice when the bets hand actually holds! Fulltilt on the other hand....was stuck like 50 playing cash games...if it weren't for the iron man system that i'm trying to qualify for, i would literally take a week off of fulltilt, but i only have to earn 100 points 3 more times this month, so i should probably stick it out.

Off topic but i think its just hilarious at the gym when u see a guy in his 50's, who in his prime, was probably in pretty good shape, if not a tank, but now, he's just fat, sloppy, and in terrible shape, BUT he walks around the gym like he's Arnold at the peak of his bodybuilding days lol There is this one old guy who i see at least once a week who fits this description to a tee!! I swear if you look at him the wrong way, he'll probably try to fight you. He wears a tanktop which he looks AWFUL in, puts WAY too much weight on the benchpress just to pump out 2 cheat reps, while screaming, and he has his socks pulled up to his knees (with shorts), like he's getting ready to go play baseball. Anyway, i think there is a guy like this at every gym and it's just sad!

Ok, got the Michigan/Illinois game and the baseball game on now...a great tv night!

Murph

The suckout king

The title actually refers to myself. King may be a bit extreme, but it does seem like i've been sucking out quite a bit lately. Its really only been happening in sng's, and they haven't been huge suckouts, but i swear my K 10 has taken down AJ all in pre flop a lot it seems. All this sucking out generally leads to winning...which it has (thankfully). My multi table game has gone to the shits these past few weeks, which is kind of a let down. Once again, played about 8 of them lastnight, and had 1 minimum cash, and another small cash in a horse tourny...that's it. I just don't think the cards are falling my way. I wish i could take at least some of the luck from the sng's, and use it up in my mt game, but oh well, i'm sure things will turn around soon...i hope.

So i've been playing strictly NL hold em cash games the past few days, and have done pretty well. There is one specific player (i wrote about him last blog) "FOURPOS" who has made it especially profitable. I'm telling you, if you ever see this donkey (he usually plays late at night, like 2 or 3am, and he plays .50-1nl hold em), you NEED to sit with him. I've seen a lot of donkeys in my time, but this dude may take the cake. I think he has 2 buttons on his computer, min bet, and call...thats it!!! No fold button, no raise button...nothing, just min bet, and call. Lastnight was pretty interesting. I told myself at 330, i was gonna quit, i was stuck about 20 bucks at this time, and right when i already clicked "sit out next hand", i won a $210 pot!!! My very last hand of then night! Had top 2 on the turn, and got 2 DONKEYS to put all their money in on a straight draw, and a flush draw....somehow the river blanked, and i took down the monster, then pulled the good ol hit n run lol. I felt bad doing it, but hey, it was now 331...nice timing!

PCA is going ok, i've got 3 step 2 tickets, and 1 step 3...haven't really invested much money at all either...mainly pokerstar points. I think tomorrow i'll play the step 3 and roll the dice...go me!!

Murph

ps watching the step 6 of the pca right now...intervention just busted in 6th....so close, yet, so far! Havad Khan is the short stack with 4 left...what a bubble this is!!

pps He just busted!!! lol literally as i was typing that last sentence! Man that kid is annoying. BBBBBUUUUULLLLDDDDOOOOZZZZEEEERRRRR lol

Not a good day

Well, if you would've asked me 15 minutes ago how my day went, i would've told you it was kind of a "blah" day....stuck a little bit, but nothing too bad, BUT, if u ask me now, i would say it was a bad day. Just lost a $200 pot in omaha8 because i was being stubborn. Flop comes 663, i'm holding pocket 3's...now this is a VERY vulnerable fullhouse in omaha8, sure enough, like i said, i was stubborn, and i was hoping the other guy either had a dry 6, or was drawing with A2, but nope, he held 63...i was drawing dead. I really am going to switch back to hold em for a few days because i am NOT running well in omaha8. Do you know i played like 190 hands, and only ONCE won a pot on the river!! Not even a few half pots....just one small scoop. Everytime i ever had something, i got no action, pretty sick!

So after the boat over boat debacle, i sat down at a .50-1 stars nl hold em game. (it had to be stars becuz i IMMEDIATELY shut down fulltilt following that hand). This is a classic, and one of the reasons i've been avoiding hold em. VERY 1ST HAND i pick up QQ, make it 3.5 bucks, get called by sb. Flop comes A45, he checks, i bet 5.5, he calls, turn is a 2, it goes check, check, river is my Q!!!! So the final board heads A245Q, he pushes all in for like 20 bucks, and i probably would've folded if it weren't for the Q on the river, so i pretty much had to call...he flips over k3 off for the straight LOL, stuck a quick 50!!! I mean where do i even start on this hand...this guys sweet call wtih k3off...or the fact that pokerstars just WHORES me and gives me a set of Queens on the river just to make sure i can't get away from my hand! Sometimes poker really sucks!

Played a bunch of tournies today...one cash in the $3 rebuy, other then that....zippy!! I do actually give myself credit for this hand though, eventhough it busted me from the tourny. We're down to 224 ppl. 216 cash and i've been crushing my table. I have like 20k, and another guy has about the same, we're both top 20 at this point. I raised with Q9 (i had been raising a ton at this weak table) other big stack called, flop comes QQ10, i check, he bets pot, i call, turn is a 6, i check, he goes all in (it was a little more then the pot). I really didn't put him on a queen here, i thought he had kk or jj or something like that, and just wanted me out of this hand, so i could've folded and still had a decent stack, and cashed, but i called and the pot was for the chip lead in the tourny...he had KQ...gg murph! But like i said, i'm glad a didn't do the scared thing and fold just because we were right on the bubble and i could've coasted in...although now i wish i had just mucked! lol

Oh well, tomorrow is another big poker day, so we'll see how it goes!

Murph

p.s. just stacked that k3 donkey twice and now i'm up 40 bucks in the game. Donkeys....ya gotta love em!

ENRAGED!!!

Well, i'm cutting right to it. For the second day in a row, i have written a decent sized post, and both times, right when i hit submit, it says "error", so i hit back...GONE!!!!! So this is gonna be VERY short since i'm ready to toss this laptop into the street!!

G/F flew home sunday....perfect timing seeing as i was having some serious poker withdrawl!!! You know the signs, the shakes, coldsweats just thinking about check raising someone when u have a monster, breaking out into the hives, etc...LOL....just joking...kind of HAHAHA (again, thankfully she doesn't read this or i may have some explaining to do).

Posted 2 small losing days sunday and monday, but came back i with a decent win today in both sng's and cash games.

Bahama's here i come!!!! Pokerstars introduced steps to win a ticket to the PCA...seeing as how sng's are my specialty, i like my chances to possibly win a ticket...i've already played a bunch of step ones (complete and utter donkiness), made a bunch of step 2's...but seem to have run dry everytime i get to step 2...oh well, i'm really gonna concentrate on winning a ticket this way.

Ok, i'm done, sometimes i hate technology!!

Murph

1 more day

Well, i'm officially an idiot! Didn't play too much this afternoon, played 2 sng's, won a $20 and came in 2nd in a $10. I think i may need more sleep though. So i was wondering why there were no .25-.50 or .50-1 omaha8 games on fulltilt...usually there are at least 2 of each. Finally there is a full ring game going, so i jump right in...it took me 15 hands to realize that i wasn't sitting at an omaha hi lo table...it was just straight omaha!!!!!!!! I can't believe i actually sat there for 15 hands before realizing it too lol. The hand that did it for me was it was limped 6 way...checked all the way till the end, and i won the pot rivering a set, but since there was a flush out there AND a low (final board read KQ832), i checked it down. I was in a state of utter disbelief that 6 people saw that flop, and not one of us made low ( i think this may be mathematically impossible), only then did i realize i wasn't playing omaha hi lo...so with my tail between my legs, i left the table down a couple bucks (could've been a whole lot worse if i started jamming the pot with the nut low lol). I figure at this point, it was probably a good idea to call it a day.

Well the g/f is flying into town tomorrow, so needless to say i won't be playing any poker for the next few days which really sucks ( i can say that because she refuses to read my blog, so thankfully this will never get back to her, but sunday can't come fast enough so i can get back to the grind LOL). I'll try to find some time to make a post or two, maybe about my AC trip last month or a big score i had right a few weeks ago...i may have made the most scared lay down ever at the final table, i'll let you decide.

Murph

There is a first for everything

Gonna try to keep it short because i'm really tired, but i think i saw a first today. I've played MANY hands of poker and can honestly say i've never seen this one. Courtesy of bodog, here's the hand in a nutshell. Limped to the button, he had 1010, i'm in sb with 99, bb has 66, we all see the flop.....10 9 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What are the odds of this!!! We all spiked out set, game over for 2 of us. Another VERY dirty hand i wasn't involved in, all in pre flop KK vs JJ...flop comes 10JQ giving JJ the lead, turn is a 9 giving kk the straight, river....the 4th jack! Quads take it down! Just a very sick hand!

Went pseudo deep in a $10 rebuy, (well, the one rebuy, one add on)...down to the final 3 tables, i'm in about 22nd at this point, i pick up AK, one limper, i've got about 12bb's, so i just push all in, get called by a guy with AQ...sweet right??? wrong...Q on the turn, gg murph!! I mean, give that beat to me in the first hour please, don't do it to me after grinding for 3 plus hours, inching closer and closer to the big money, and then you do that to do...damn you pokerstars!! Although, i did hit a 1 outer on somebody after we were all in earlier in the tourny, so i guess what goes around comes around, but still, it just stings a whole lot more when it happens with only a few tables left!

Bad day at the sng's again, played 5 of them...one cash...3rd place again...on 3 seperate tables at one point, we were at the 150-300 level with 6 guys left!!!! I've never seen so many nits in my life...of course i ran into some MONSTERS because i was the only one raising ANYTHING unless they had KK or AA. That is somewhat of a problem of mine...i can't just sit there and fold fold fold fold fold playing 5 way and it KILLS me when these nits do this, and they catch me with a huge hand....very frusterating!

Won some MASSIVE pots playing .50-1 omaha8 cash games today. Flopped the wheel in one hand, and stacked a guy for a $200 plus pot when he called a huge river bet with a pair of 10's for a high and a bad low!! It may have beenthe worst call i've ever seen...i thought we were splitting the pot 100%, but no, a pair of tens, and like the 4th nut low!! Needless to say i have written down his name and will be looking for him everytime i log on to fulltilt!

It was a decent day on the whole i guess, stuck like 40 on stars, but up 150 on fulltilt.

Murph

ps what a great night for t.v!! Between the monday night game, yankees vs indians, high stakes poker AND the bachelor i've never used a remote more in one night in my entire left....i actually think i may have a blister forming on my thumb!

Card dead???

This may have been a first. So i decided to play a bigger tourny then i usually do and entered the $26, 17k fulltilt event. Listen to these steller statistics. I played 74 hands, saw 7 flops, and NEVER WON A POT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not a single F ing pot!!!! is that even possible?? I literally sat there for an hour and a half, and just mucked, it was the lamest tournament i've ever played in. The best hand i saw was pockets 6's...that was my only pair, and i NEVER GOT 2 face cards!!!! No i don't mean a pair of face cards, i mean 2 face cards!!!! Not even a QJ off or anything....NOTHING!!! Need less to say i didnt quite make the money...so gay.

Also took a shot at a $20 horse event on fulltilt. Only 50 ppl signed up, so only top 6 got paid, i ended up busting in like 15th...oh well.

On the brighter side of things, played 2 sngs today, won a $10 and came 3rd in a $20. Once again, just like yesterday, my QJ with a nice q82 flop ran into a guy who limped with AA...this time they put a 2nd queen up though and he busted. I then proceeded to lecture him on limping with AA...i'm pretty sure if that guy knew where i lived, he would come hunt me down...hey, i was just stating the obvious....he then hung around to rip me saying how bad i was for the rest of the tourny...except i won it HAHAHA That had to be a little more salt in the wounds for that guy!!

Lastly, came in 17th in a Omaha8 rebuy...350 entries, so i was very pleased with how that played out....was crippled early when someone hit a smooth one outer on me on the river, when we were all in, to pretty much send me to the rail, but again, my short stack ninja play enabled me to fight back.

Still playing a $5 horse tourny on fulltilt and a omaha8 cash game, but i'm quitting soon. I'll let you know if anything comes of those games.

Murph

One of those days

Well, the subject says it all, the poker gods giveth, and the poker gods taketh away. Just couldn't get anything going today. Played in 8 sng's, had one cash, a 3rd, and 4 4ths!!!!!!!! It was sickening. It wasn't bad beats at all either, i was just really card dead, or EVERY time i raised pre flop, i would either run into KK after me hitting top pair of Q or J (this busted me out of 2 sng's) or i would pick up AK, get 3 or 4 callers and WHIFF on the flop completely!! If i threw out a cont. bet, i would get raised, if i checked, there would be a bet and raise behind me, i just couldn't win! I think it was one of those days that even if Phil Ivey played my cards, the results bascially would've been the same...BUSTO!! The last one i played, mid position raised to 60, i hadQQ on button, and called. Flop came AQ7, he bet 100, i call, turn is an A, he bets 250, i raise him to 600, he pushes, as i'm preteding to think about calling ( i have a boat) and ripping him, i finally call...he turns over AQ...goodbye tom...5 hands into the sit n go. Again, it wasn't bad beats, just bad luck. Hopefully tomorrow will be a different day.

Played some .25-.50 nl hold em again, still taking a break from omaha8 until i have a losing day at hold em. Won about 17 bucks but it should've been more. Here is a hand that is bugging me and want to know what you think. Post your reply in the comment section on how u think i played the hand. I pick up AKs in early position, i make it 1.5, next guy re raises me to 4, button cold calls the raise, so do i. Flop comes 853 with 2 spades (i have AK of spades) i check, guy who re raised me bets 7, button min raises to 14 ( this is where i think i should've released my hand), i called, orignal bettor calls. Turn is an ace. Now i have top pair top kicker and nut flush draw. I check, next guy checks, guy who re raised bets 8!! (at 1st i put him on a set with the min re raise, now with the small bet, i was thinking maybe he has QQ or something and that 8 is a scared bet). So i call his 8, into a 60 pot, and the other guy mucks. River is a blank, he has like 20 bucks left, so i just push all in, he calls, set of 3's for him...i lose a 120 pot. Did i butcher this hand?? i don't really think so, the call on the flop after the re raise is really the only part i'm questioning. Let me know what you think.

Murph

A quick update...so fulltilt just whored me as per the usual...got stacked in my hold em (goodbye hold em cash games)...dude had been raising 50% of pots. It was folded to him in the cutoff, he raises to 2 bucks, i have AQ in bb so i call...flop comes AK2, i check, he bets 4, i call, turn is a 3, i bet 10, he makes it 23, i put him all in, he calls, pocket 2's...gg Murph.

A horse is a horse

Sorry i couldn't post my results lastnight, something came up. Nothing too exciting though, came in 29th in the omaha8 tourny for a nubbins minimum cash. Lost a monster pot when a dude flopped the nut low and high on me (A4) when i was holding nut flush draw, and 2nd nut low...oooops. On the bright side, i top tened my 4th horse tourny in the past 5 i've played, can't seem to break through for the win though (two 4th's, 8th and 9th), i think i need to work on my short handed play a bit. I do recommend the fulltilt book that just came out a few months ago (can't think of the name of it) that has a section on different games written by different pros. I definately have to credit the razz section by Ted Forrest and Huck Seed on helping the razz part of my game for horse!! I just wish stars or fulltilt had some middle of the road buy ins for horse. Its either 5 bucks, or something like 30 or bigger. A nice $10 would be nice!

Only played 2 sng's today, came in 1st in a $20 and 3rd in the $10. I decided at the beginning of the day to take a few days off playing omaha8 cash games because i just haven't been running very good, so i played some .25-.50 nl. (what i'm about to say is the reason i stopped playing hold em cash games). i pick up kk on button, utg raises to 1.5, gets called, i make it 7.5, BB pushes 21 all in, other 2 guys fold, i call, he flips up QQ...Q on the flop, thanks for coming out. Somehow i managed to make 14 bucks in the game when it should've been at least 50. Lastly, played a $10 double shootout for the sunday million, won my first table, and with 6 left, i lost all in pre flop my AQs vs 78 (he raised, i put him all in, and i've never seen a guy call so fast, for a minute i thought he was gonna flip up 2 jokers...well 78 is almost as good), so i was down to 15...yes 15 chips!!!!!!!!!!! the blinds were 25-50. Well with a little short stack ninja play by me, i built it up to 700, and managed to cash to get my my money back...3 away from the ticket though. I think my next article will be how short stack play seeing as i have mastered the art of it.

Murph

Bubble Boy

There are certain things that you just can't explain in life. The great pyramids in Africa, Stonehedge, how anybody in the world finds carrot top funny, but none of these compare to the guy who just can't fold ace rag for ANYTHING!!! So i'm playing the stars 3 rebuy (maybe the most nuts tourny on the internet) and we're down to 511. 504 get paid, i'm sitting in around 380th. Pick up kk in the sb, get 2 limpers, and i didnt wanna mess around, so i pushed my 16k all in (blinds were 600-1200). BB folds, the other limper folds, now we're at the last limper, who has about 20k in chips...he times out, and calls ( i really didnt want a call, but i knew i was way ahead, so it wasn't that bad if he called) so he flips up A7. Flop comes rags, turn is a rag, river...well as Barry Greensteins book is titled...Ace on the river!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #$%%$%#$&&#$##$# you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a waste of 3 hours!!! Honestley though, how the hell could he call there....after the hand i looked him up, and was shocked to see his ROI if -56 which isn't shocking at all, but it did make me feel a little better.

I promise this won't be a bad beat blog, but that hand really burned me. Alright, i've got 3 tbales going now, and midnight madness is about to start, and i'm in the money in a omaha8 tourny on stars... i'll post my results later tonight.

Murph

In for a quickie

I've gotta make this one quick but how painful was it to watch Scotty Nguyen donk off his HUGE stack and bust out in 11th in the main event last night??? Eventhough i knew it was coming seeing as i followed this years mainevent on pokerpages.com, it was still just a huge dagger for the fans to have him not at the final table, especially seeing as he could've coasted to the final table but instead, like most successful players, tried to capitalize off people playing scared and just trying to back their way into the final table....oh well, he had a hell of a run.

Unfortunately i won't be able to get in any poker today (these days are few and far between for me) but i did want to address thie issue of sucking out. I find donkeys do not understand the concept of a suckout. There is a the aggressive suckout, and the passive suckout. The aggressive suckout is when you are on the button, make it 3x bb and the bb pushes, and your getting 2.5 to 1 to call....you pretty much have to call with anything...so if u have Q10 and he flips over AJ, you made the right call...now if you happen to win the hand, the clueless donkey may cry about how you sucked out and how could you call his all in with Q10. Well that may be a suckout, but you were playing the pot odds and in a way, it's a good suckout, because you were getting the right price to call. If you watch any of the great players play, you will constantly see this (watch belowabove play a tournament). The passive suckout on the other hand is the guy who NEVER raises, he only calls. He makes 3 bad calls to the river, with ZERO aggression, and if he happens to suckout, good for him, and you want to toss your laptop into the pool, and quit playing online poker for ever seeing as he made 3 bad calls in ONE hand! The bottom line is that you can't fault someone for being aggressive. Aggressive poker leads to big stacks, which leads to final tables, which also leads to wins. There is a fine line between calculated aggression, and reckless aggression which is also the same line that seperates the donkeys from the studs, it is up to you to figure out where this line is.

Murph

Here goes nothing

This is a blog for the everyday, run of the mill, low limit poker player. I've been playing online poker for about 3 years now and even though i have reached the point where i think it's safe to say i will never have to reload again, Johnnybax I am not. I can usually be found grinding it out playing 10-20 dollar multi tables and sng's, and various cash games between .25-.50 or .50-1nl hold em games and omaha8 with a decent amount of success. I started out reading some online players blogs about a month ago (Rex55 and Belowabove) and, and that's where this idea came from. There are hundreds of blogs from every online pro out there, and though it's cool to read about people playing for those kinds of stakes, most people just can't relate to this...that's where i come in. People can read my blog and relate to the trials and tribulations of the everyday poker player (granted i play quite a bit more then the everyday poker player i'm sure). The title of this blog (i don't know you but i probably hate you) can pretty much sum up how i feel about 99% of the people i run into playing online poker, and for that matter, when i make the 3 hour trip to Atlantic City. I'm sure i am not alone in thinking this. You love the donkey when he 4 bets his middle pair no kicker into your fullhouse, but you also hate him when he makes that same 4 bet with a gutshot into your set, and he hits.

Anyway, in closing i know it may be tough to accumulate a following, but i have confidence that once my name gets out there, it will snowball. I'm just your typical 26 year old guy who one day aspires to be on the travel channel at the final table of the Borgata Open with Matusow on my left and Chan on my right (that may be tough seeing as i think i have permanatley banned myself from the suckout kingdom of the world errrrrrrrrrr The Borgata), but in the mean time am content to slowly....very slowly build my bankroll.

You can follow me under the names:
Pokerstars: lesmurphy7
Fulltilt: lesmurphy77
Bodog: les murphy7

Murph