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I won the Saturday Foxwoods tourney this weekend. I have so much to say, but I will wait to say it until I can think clearly again.

The Woods

Well, I leave for Foxwoods in less than 24 hours. Very exciting. I will be there from Friday to Monday.

I look forward to this trip because it feels like a milestone. First, of course, it's my last trip for a while. The babies leave me Pittsburgh-bound until probably the fall.

Second, however, I have been playing poker seriously for about two years. When I played Friday night, however, I felt like I was really able to put everything together. I was playing my game and really reading players pretty well. Therefore, I expect that things will go well for me, and I hope I will be demonstrating I actually have learned somethign on this journey.

Look forward to seeing my friends from DBPoker, and enjoying the largest casino in the world (at least until they finish development of Macau I would guess).

Fortunately, my wife is also spending some time away, so I feel a little less bad leaving her for four days. Her back has been hurting her as she pulled a muscle. We tried putting her in the recliner last night but it did not seem to help much.

Post over. Nothing below here.

I Was Right

Unfortunately, I still lost about half a buy-in.

Played last night in a local cash game with some old friends. Great to see them again, and overall I think I played pretty well. However, I have noted a couple of issues with my game (I suspected these issues previously, hence the "I was right" above), I think in a timely fashion for a trip to Foxwoods....

1. I do better with 100 Big blinds than I do with 50. I should never buy in short, and I am glad my game increased its limits.

2. My game is well suited to playing in postion and calling preflop. It is also suited to making my raises on the turn, rather than on the flop.

3. I can't play for more than about 6 hours straight without needing a break.

I was in for 2 and a half buy ins, got back up to 3 buyins, cashed out for 2 buyins. If I had left after 6 hours, I would have had a decent profit despite getting drawn out on a few times.

4. As usual, if I deliver a beat, I go on a sick rush immediately thereafter.

I would have cashed out pretty good if one hand had turned out a bit better...

I am in the BB with 887J, two clubs. Flop gives me middle set, a straight draw, and backdoor clubs. Turn give me the club draw as well. The pot grows so that I am all in. Although I have a decent idea that I am behind to top set, I knew no one was in for runner runner clubs and the pot was so big that I decided it was worth the risk (I was being offered more than 3 to 1 with 9 clubs, three nines, and the 8, plus the chance that I was wrong about the top set and a board pair would also get me there). I was right about top set and I bricked on the river. I don't think I played the hand great, but overall once I got where I was I felt I had to call.

Not Sure I Understand

I have apparently broken my short post setting in the translation to the new template. so I apologize that older posts now have links to nowhere......


What is the continued purpose of cracking down on online wagering? The Republicans who sought to crack down on that "evil" are out of power now, aren't they?

Nevertheless, for those in the fold who play mostly online poker, you likely have heard by now that the feds arrested the founders of Neteller this week, and this has resulted in Neteller pulling out of the US market earlier than expected.

I simply don't get it. Let me note a few salient points.....

I pay all my taxes. I vote every term. I give thousands of dollars to churches and charities. I donate my time to worthy causes. I do not smoke. I rarely drink, and just about never to excess. I have never cheated on my spouse. I don't steal office supplies. I've never visited a prostitute or done an illegal drug of any sort, ever.

I brush my own teeth. I wipe my own ass. I balance my checkbook and provide for my wife and upcoming kids. I visit the doctor when necessary, and look in on my family members. I do my own home repair and improvements.

Despite those facts, the United States Government is zeroing in on someone like me as a 1) criminal and 2) someone who cannot take care of himself or make his own decisions.

Why in the hell can poker sites be publicly traded, celebrated companies across the sea, but are the source of modern evil here? I understand some of the concerns over sports betting, but why is playing poker something the US Attorney thinks is worthy of so much time and energy?

I hate to sound like Nancy Pelosi, but we are fighting a war of vital national importance on three fronts, and yet we are using tax dollars to go after and restrict folks who throw fifty bucks on a poker site. How can that ever make sense?

No need to get into the legal particulars, as others have done better than me already. I simply expected more from my government, especially from a lame-duck law enforcement arm trying to cram square pegs into forty-year old round holes.

I certainly hope this wakes the PPA up.

And don't even get me started on Neteller itself. It shut down InstaCASH. Fine. But now to get money out you have to use a Neteller card. Which carries a sizeable fee per use. It's Firepay all over again. Disgusting.

I know I am just venting to vent now. Calling my Congressman will do little good -- he's been in office two weeks and it's the Justice Department taking these steps anyway.

It's stupid, stupid, stupid.

I got HOSEd

My boy RJS at DBPoker decided to resurrect our private tournaments -- this promised to be lots of fun. So many "questionable" people had our passwords in the past, a fresh start should be good!

Last week was NLHE, and I bounced out right quick. This week's game was HOSE (UConn fears Razz), and I bubbled. I wish I had some brilliant insight for you, but there is none -- the private tourney structure for HOSE is so bad that at the first break no one had more than 6 big bets. The final table all arrived with about the same bumber. I hit a few sets and made it to 4th, where my straight draw lost to someone else's straight draw in stud.

Next week is Razz. Now that should be fun.

Brutal

Oy.

Had just a brutal Sunday at the virtual tables. Could not get anything going. I played way too loose, especially against the bad players, which is of course the exact opposite of smart play for my style. I got too cute post-flop consistently. Glad that most of it was $T, not real cash. How I bounced out of the Sunday million with middle pair and the blinds at 200/400 is something I don't want to discuss....

Not exactly the outing I wanted before I geared up for Connecticut. I hope any time I get to play in the next couple of weeks goes much better.

My apologies for posting so infrequently these days. The babies plus a monstrous appellate brief have kept me mute and away from the tables for the most part.

KJGDSAKJKJSADGSKJAGJSKA BVDSNF

Just bubbled in a horse tourney because some monkey decided calling a raise OOP on the bubble was a good idea with 10 9 sooooooted, and his no pair 5th flush draw was good enough to get it all in with.

I am so mad I could spit. What a night.

Happy New Year

Went to Connecticut for four days and spent time with family. It was pretty awesome to spend time with my cousins (9 and 12). Makes it neat to anticipate that my own kids will be here relatively soon.

I am going to have a very busy week this week at work and at home. Once I make it through, however, we'll be in pretty good shape. I certainly intend to get at least a little poker in before I set out for Foxwoods. Can't believe that date is approaching so quickly.

The "Last Ride" for a while, will, I hope, be lots of fun.

I'll have more later. Hopefully I'll be able to post some interesting hands in the next couple of weeks. I''d love to get a chance to have some people critique my game for me.