The "Real World", Sports, Immaturity, with a dash of Poker

Manning Bowl Preview

2012-02-05T13:20:00.003-05:00

Wait, you're telling me it's not Eli vs Peyton? You're telling me that the black sheep brother not named Cooper is the only Manning playing in this game? I am so confused!!! With the media focusing on the $28m neck of Peyton and comparing the two brothers accolades, just like how Tebow got all the attention a few weeks ago, will make Brady and Bill ANGRY, and you don't want to piss them off.

In all seriousness (first time for everything right?) this will be a game about two of the top QBs in the NFL. These two teams first squared off on November 6th in Foxboro this season with the G-Men coming away on top in an impressive 4th quarter show from both quarterbacks. I have no idea what the precedent of teams playing in the regular season and in the Super Bowl (can I say that?) is nor do I feel like looking it up. HOWEVAAAA, I will give my (not so expert) opinion on how this instance will effect the game today.

In the first match up, Tom Brady (he's so pretty) threw 2 INT's along with losing a fumble. If Brady has over 1.5 turnovers today, IMO, the Patriots are in big trouble. Besides the turnovers, I'll go through the box score, I'll give stats that stick out to me:

The first score of the game occurred with 3:29 to go in the 3rd quarter, a 22 yd FG by the Giants. I did not watch the game but I'm curious as to how/why neither team could get on the board earlier?
The Patriots ran the ball 24 times to 49 passes. Guess this isn't the ratio to succeed on the Giants?
Victor Cruz had 6 catches for 91 yards. I'm guessing this is a recipe that Belichick could handle, that will be "containing" him. Also shows that NE has the ability to control him.
NYG had 1 punt return in 5 punts, NE had 5 returns in 8 punts. NE averaged 19.2 yards on kick returns while NY averaged 15.25 yards. These tell me that the Patriots have huge edge in the special teams department.

If by my armchair quarterback comments, I am leaning towards New England in Super Bowl 46. I believe both QB's are going to play well so I don't see them as key players in terms of the result. My two players on each team that will most definitely (lies) have a key in the outcome. Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips for the Giants to have any chance at containing Hernandez and Gronk. BenJarvis Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead for the Patriots to keep the Giants DE crew honest for runs out of passing formations.

After all, David Tyree ain't walking through that door.

Patriots 31

Giants 21

I also don't mind The Lawfirm as a long shot MVP for +1800.

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes Fantasy League

2012-01-17T17:12:00.002-05:00

So over the past few years, ok maybe more, I have been a frequent viewer of every Real World/Road Rules Challenge Season. Over a brief discussion with a few friends we all jumped on the opportunity of creating a fantasy league for this upcoming season titled "The Battle of the Exes". We will be using the Grantland Scoring System and will likely have some fun outcomes for the seasons losers. Terms of the bets have yet to be agreed upon but the words "Frosted" and "Tips" have been discussed.

I went into this, as my first of many, reality show fantasy draft with a pretty basic strategy. That strategy was to know the basic rules of the show and correlate those rules and the Grantland system and choose the best possible team. Also, your team has to survive week after week to give you points. Something brought up in the preview show is how teams will be put into elimination challenges. The last place team from the performance challenge and a team chosen by the first place team in the same challenge. This lead me to think that the middle of the road teams with a lot of experience and a good political (LOL) standing are more likely to not step on toes in this game and make it to the end.

Having the 4th pick, I really liked my position, even though the 3 big hitters were gone in CT, Bananas, and The Ginger. With my thoughts on how the season was going to go, Abraham Boise was a safe pick and one of the nut job sociopaths would fall to me in the next round. However, last night I realized that I picked the Charlie Redz of The Challenge. Which obviously is a good thing for the Grantland scoring system.

Following my first pick, the 4 nut cases, Jasmine, Cara Maria, Camila, and Paula went in succession. I thought that the nut case along with the safe pick in the first round would've been PERFECT. It was obviously not meant to be, which lead me back to my first round strategy. Survival. With Evelyn and Laurel not in this season, Sarah, in my opinion, is the strongest female competitor. The only downside is she doesn't fuck in the house, but she won't hold back trying to make other girls cry.

My strategy for my 3rd round pick was the same as the first, going for value and maximum episode exposure. I think Emily and Ty are a real dark horse in this game. I don't remember an ugly break up between the two and she is RIPPED. My fourth pick came around and ONCE AGAIN, my train wreck female was chosen right before my selection. I thought Naomi was guaranteed at least a 3 some in the pool type points. So then it came down to the decision between Vinny and Aneesa. Aneesa definitely has get drunk and make bitches cry written all over her but I believe she was out first in the last challenge season and once again, I really liked the team of Sarah and Vinny. Vinny might be the Randy Moss of my 2007 fantasy team to go along with Sarah aka Tom Brady.

I understand my team doesn't have the flash, drama, controversy, or slut potential, but damnit I believe they will lead the league in total episodes and therefore maximize their point potential. Good luck on 2nd place, fellas!

If you want to follow along with the league, the main blog used will be that of Eric Doll: http://norcoastbias.blogspot.com/. Everyone else on twitter if you want to follow along with all the shit talking:

- lilOUmikey
- ClevelandCat
- uklefty22
- chairboyswag
- tdegirolamo

The Calculated Trade Value of Andrew Luck, Auction Style!

2012-01-04T16:23:00.007-05:00

With the end of the NFL regular season, fans of teams out of the playoff picture immediately shift their focus to the NFL Draft. Especially where my fandom lies, with the Cleveland Browns. It has been talked about since January 6th 2011, that Andrew Luck was going to be the #1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. If your mathematically challenged, thats over 15.5 months of discussion of this "once in a generation prospect".

A few weeks ago on December 21st, ESPN's Adam Schefter on Mike and Mike discussed a scenario where the STL Rams would have the first overall pick, and it becoming available on the trade market. Now obviously, the Indianapolis Colts have the #1 pick, but let's have some fun and do some math!!! "it becomes literally an auction for the #1 pick" and "roughly 3 1's and 2 2's maybe 4 1st round picks" . The purpose of this post is to mathematically determine how that auction would work. Now in order to have an auction, you need at least 2 potential buyers. I'll give you 4 potential buyers. The Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins, Miami Dolphins, and Seattle Seahawks.

"Whoever's got the most money in their pocket can certainly buy it" or him in this case.

Now what we have to do it determine, who actually, has the most money in their pocket.

Facts:

1) Cleveland, Washington, Miami, and Seattle have all of their own picks for the next 3 seasons

2) Cleveland has Atlanta's 1st round pick from the Julio Jones trade

3) I am using this chart for calculations http://www.draftcountdown.com/features/Value-Chart.php

Assumptions:

1) Future picks have a decreased value on the value chart just like Time Value of Money

2) Since the new CBA rookie wage scale came into effect last season, 1st round picks are worth even more based on the smaller guaranteed contracts

3) When trading future picks, teams use an average of where they think the other team will finish the season of the pick they traded

3a) Both Atlanta and New Orleans were projected to be a playoff team in the 2011/12 season

To determine the value of future first round picks, I took two trades from last years draft that resulted in the trading of future first round picks, The Cleveland/Atlanta Julio Jones trade, and the New Orleans/New England Mark Ingram trade. (I only used those 2 trades since they are the only future 1st round pick draft transactions with the new rookie wage scale in effect)

So then we take the average of the two multiples 0.55557 and 0.46321 to get our Future Pick Multiple (FPM) to be 0.51. Now we can calculate the value of future picks and since no teams have 3 1st round picks and 2 2nd round picks in the 2012 NFL Draft, NOW we can have an auction!! The question is, who has the most money in their pockets?

My Calculations: (Assumed Luck would lead Wash, Miami, and Seattle to the Playoffs)

Redskins: 1st thru 4th round pick in 2012, 2013, and 2014 = 2,884.28

Dolphins: 1st thru 4th round pick in 2012, 2013, and 2014 = 2,791.28

Seahawks: 1st thru 4th round pick in 2012, 2013, and 2014 = 2,393.28

Browns: both 1st's in 2012, and 2011 2nd = 3,004.00

So basically once Mike Holmgren plays Dave Hester and bids 3004 on the draft value scale, nobody can match and that's the final YUUUUUUUUUUUP of this auction.

Coincidentally, on the draft value chart, the #1 OVR pick is worth 3,000 points, so if my calculations and assumptions are (somewhat) accurate (big if, I know), this pick is IMPOSSIBLE to be worth more than any other past or future 1st OVR selection.

Notes:

This does not include the trade of players, since their value cannot be given a mathematical value.
I have triple checked the math, but that doesn't mean it's correct. I am not an expert, just a fan with a blog and a legally purchased copy of Microsoft Excel.
I am a Cleveland Browns fan and I would snap do this trade if my numbers are accurate.
Can't you picture Mike Holmgren screaming YUUUUUUUUUUUP at the top of his lungs?

Leave comments/questions here or you can get to me through my twitter account HERE.

Standing Ejection

2011-10-03T11:27:00.002-04:00

Now I know, since this story broke 5 days ago, the horse had been beaten more then Sheldon Brown in the first four games, but with a first hand experience, gotta dig it up a little bit more.

It was a normal Browns home game Sunday, I arrived in the Munilot (is it one words or 2?) a little after 7am and began the normal tailgate routine. Only thing out of the ordinary there was @ClevelandFrowns locking his keys in his car like a 16 year old girl, but I digress. Myself and @Rossitron5 arrived at our seats in section 534 around 12:40 and began killing time before the kickoff with small talk with the people around us.

Right around kickoff a mid 20s gentleman wearing a #58 "B. Miller" jersey arrived at his seat 2 rows in front of us with his eyes practically rolled in the back of his head already. I thought to myself "this is gonna be fun". I like fucking with people who are far too drunk. Little did I know he would use said seat as much as Shurmur used Hillis on short yardage situations. He stood, and stood, and stood. Old dude in front of me said to him "You better sit down [whippersnapper] or you're going to get kicked out". "Yeah [motherfucker]."

@Rossitron5 who might have a severe case of ADD starts giggling and telling me he's going to text The Fuzz. "It's going to be awesome dude, trust me". In the mean time B. Miller has sat down during 1st and 2nd downs, but was still standing during kickoffs! Brah, it's going to be a touchback, then a TV timeout, have a seat! The 20 people in a 10 seat radius, that's an area of 3.1415 X 10 ^ 2 (math!), have become annoyed with B Miller. Ross finally figures out how to make this text happen (moron) and we wait. Giggling to each other how no one will expect us since we were sticking up for him at first. However, I was thinking that his kid really deserves to be tossed, giggling aside. Thinking to myself "this is the reason these rules are in place" /unwrapping a Werthers Origional. B Miller is walked somewhere with his buddy, and buddy says "we'll be back". Hired rent a cops arrived 4 minutes later (shit's fast) but B Miller never returned. Props to his buddy for likely getting him out of the stadium, unprops to him for lying to us!

So what was the point to all of this? To tell you (all 4 of you) that there are specific situations where "fans" deserve to be booted for excessive standing. And also to you this epic picture from the Muni Lot. Superpimp also now has business cards (and delicious blood?)!

Rey Maualuga's Driving School

2010-01-29T12:59:00.004-05:00

Following Mr. Maualuga's attempt at ESPN's top piece of ace he realized that the more mature class of woman was not for him. Last night Rey Rey totaled a 2003 Pontiac Sunfire when the vehicle struck two parked cars and a parking meeter just outside the University of Cincinnati in Covington Kentucky . As the story states "Two female passengers who were with Maualuga were released without being charged." Another source says that one of the females is Chelsea Fauver, an 18 year old senior at Fairfield High, the other was another female and guess what, she wasn't even 18, as was stated "Maualuga was driving with two passengers in the car, a juvenile female and 18-year-old Chelsea Fauver. Both passengers were not injured."

Now the fun part! Theory Time! First lets state the facts:

1) Rey Maualuga has a 4 year $4.59m contract with the Bengals, of which $2.84m is guaranteed.

2) He was driving the 2003 Sunfire

3) Two female high school students were in the car with him

4) Ms. Fauver was about half an hour from her town

5) Rey had 6 Captain and Cokes prior to totaling the car.

What is wrong with this story? Why is Rey driving a 2003 Sunfire? Is it a sentimental car from before his NFL days? I doubt it. How much slack would his USC teamates gives him for rolling into practice with that ride? I don't know if anybody remembers the high school parking lot but I can recall many a female rolling out of the West Geauga parking lot in a Sunfire.

What I'm getting at here is that it was not his car. He was the only one of legal drinking age in the car. And women (especially girls) can't drive. He was not the one who wrecked the car, either Chelsea or the nameless juvenile smashed the two cars and the parking meeter. They all had been drinking, stopped Lee's Famous Recipe (from the Google map of the address of the crash) for some 4th meal and while Rey was making sure there was hot sauce in his bag one of the girls smashed the Sunfire. Rey, wanting to play Knight in Shining Armour, switched seats prior to the Covington Police arriving at the scene.

Two important questions following the altercation;

1) Which one gets to take Rey to the prom?

2) It's 2am on a Thursday night in Cincinnati, do you know where your daughters are at?

Team T-Swizzle ON FIRE!!!!

2009-07-29T16:11:00.003-04:00

2p2 TLB Contest has started and Team T-Swizzle is lighting shit up, first day p3rc4 started off the first day with a ship of a $30 673 player MTT followed up by a 4th in a $10 1863 player MTT for a cool 1080 TLB's. After getting back from North Carolina I put in a later sunday MTT session that lead to my first outright win in a non 180 man on pokerstars.

The $5 6-max attracted 2658 poor souls that i eventually pwn after coming into the final table with 10bbs after getting 1 outed on the river. This is currently the high score in the clubhouse for the contest with 886.84 TLBs. Monday night I put in a night session which lead to a number of min cashes and eventually i was 1 tabling a $1 4940 entrant MTT that i really didn't care about until i realized it was worth a shit ton of TLB's. Ended up taking an extremely disappointing 6th after AQs < AJs and A9o < A8s. Abusing the FT bubble was fun tho.

I'm excited to keep this going and bring home the victory.

Also played 4 step 2's yesterday with good success:

Step Buyin Progress:
Step 1's - 0- $0
Step 2's - 36- $972
Step 3's - 3- $246
Step 4's - 0
Step 5's - 0
Step 6's - 0

W$ Earned - 0
Total Value: $1218

Step 1 "Complete"

2009-07-23T02:24:00.003-04:00

Played 100 step 1's playing about 12 tables at a time, I want to stab my eyeballs out. I played pretty crappy and made a few big mistakes while playing but basically broke even equity wise. When i get into step 2's after the 2p2 tlb contest I will be playing a max of 4 tables at once to maximize my expectation. I'll post my team and any big scores during the TLB. Off to Wilmington NC tomorrow!

Step Buyin Progress:
Step 1's - 0- $0
Step 2's - 39- $1053
Step 3's - 1 - $82
Step 4's - 0
Step 5's - 0
Step 6's - 0

W$ Earned - 0
Total Value: $1135

Running Well Playing Well

2009-07-20T20:33:00.001-04:00

Step Buyin Progress:
Step 1's - 23 - $172.5
Step 2's - 33 - $891
Step 3's - 1 - $82
Step 4's - 0
Step 5's - 0
Step 6's - 0

W$ Earned - 0
Total Value: $1145.5

Bad morning God mode after

2009-07-19T20:08:00.002-04:00

played a bunch of 180 mans in the morning and ran like a paraplegic, then played a set of 12 step 1's and ran like Reggie Bush

Step Buyin Progress:
Step 1's - 32
Step 2's - 29
Step 3's - 1
Step 4's - 0
Step 5's - 0
Step 6's - 0

W$ Earned - 0
Total Value: $1105

Steps Day 3

2009-07-18T13:26:00.001-04:00

Step Buyin Progress:
Step 1's - 44
Step 2's - 24
Step 3's - 1
Step 4's - 0
Step 5's - 0
Step 6's - 0

W$ Earned - 0
Total Value: $1060

I suck

Steps Day 2

2009-07-17T21:27:00.001-04:00

Played 12 at bcm's house did/ran pretty shitty i think

Step Buyin Progress:
Step 1's - 68
Step 2's - 18
Step 3's - 1
Step 4's - 0
Step 5's - 0
Step 6's - 0

W$ Earned - 0
Total Value: $1078

Steps Day 1

2009-07-16T22:50:00.001-04:00

Step Buyin Progress:
Step 1's - 77
Step 2's - 16
Step 3's - 1
Step 4's - 0
Step 5's - 0
Step 6's - 0

W$ Earned - 0

Total Value: $1091.5

WCOOP Steps and PLB Contest

2009-07-16T20:34:00.003-04:00

So for some additional motivation and some structure to my play I have come up with the task to grind the steps to the WCOOP events that run until September. I already started playing a few and found them ridic soft. Since I started I have 8 step 2's and 1 step 3. From this point I am going to play 100 step 1's and take them as far as i can go. That's $750 in buyins that I would like to at least double. I plan on getting the cash out of the steps by gaining entry into WCOOP events and selling the W$ and might play a few events as well depending on my schedule. I will track my progress here as well in a spreadsheet of my own.

I also signed up for the 2p2 PLB contest that is about 2 weeks I think starting July 25th or something. We'll see how that goes, it will be done on a draft system and I am going to put in a lot of MTT volume as well.

Step Buyin Progress:
Step 1's - 100
Step 2's - 8
Step 3's - 1
Step 4's - 0
Step 5's - 0
Step 6's - 0

W$ Earned - 0

Total Value: $1048

Back and Better than EVER

2009-05-17T12:20:00.009-04:00

Back on the tournament trail with a vengeance! Shipped the Sunday Afternoon 3r on FTP followed by a 2nd place finish in a nightly Daily Double. The roll is bigger and now so are the stakes.

As for today, definitely the biggest Sunday schedule I've ever played totaling $480+ in buyins depending on rebuys that include both miniFTOPS as well as the early KO FTOPS. I'll post interesting hands as the day goes on.

ewwwwwwwwwwww one table turbo satty to the 200k
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4244272

wtf spot, FTP 3r, first hand ive raised in an hour and a half
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4244650

just a really strange hand from the 3r where I'm just pissing in the wind
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4245364

standard whining hand
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4245916

For some reason I like this song a lot.

Edit:

2008-01-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

He's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK

Took down my first 4.40 of 2008 and god damn it feels good! I played very well and patient. I was short stacked most of the way and some helpful flops and situations occurred. It helped sucking out A9>AK AIPF and A3 > KK AIPF but both hands were so standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1981220

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1981226

There was one very tricky, interesting hand that i had. I played it passively and I think the only hand at the final table I may have played poorly. My read on the villain is that he has been aggressive and has led into me after a PF raise before and i folded. I called the flop to see the action on the turn, the turn bet made me think A10 or K10, so all of my outs were live. I hit one and couldn't fold with the way i played it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1981235

I plan to continue playing 4.40s at least until January and I might be playing them for an individual contest come February on pocketfives.com depending on a lot of things (strength of the field, work, girlfriend).

May all your cards be live and your pots be monster!

A little look at how Jan is going

2008-01-21T20:23:00.000-05:00

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1975063

this is at a 4.40 FT where i have the player tagged as MR'ing most pots and i dont want to just shove PF. So i just call and get the flop im looking for and what do you know! I'm down 33 buy ins and feel im playing optimal poker.

I invested in PT and PAHUD and go over all my big hands and don't see too many mistakes if any. I am so frustrated ATM but still have confidence in my game. I've made 4 final tables with 3 8ths and 1 3rd so far. I can only hope to get out of this swong soon.

2008 Toughts and Goals

2008-01-02T14:33:00.000-05:00

Coming from the 2007 recap post, I have a few thoughts on starting off 2008 the right way. Yesterday, I cashed out down to $440 and have the sole intentions of playing $4.40 180 mans until i feel comfortable with my game again. Mainly closing out tournaments and reestablishing my TAG play. I found myself making too many moves and -EV resteals because of not paying as close attention as i could have. Playing the 4.40's, I will be able to get to bed at a normal hour. I felt too often, especially in the 3r, "I have a big stack, if i keep this up ill be awake til 4am." And i wasn't saying that as a good thing. I spewed away way too many chips in the 5r (which i really wasn't rolled for), the 3r, the 20k, and who knows what else.

I can't really set a time when I'll be comfortable again in big MTTs, its all about how i feel with my game. The reason i cashed out is so i would not be tempted in playing any MTTs because i would not be rolled for anything that interests me. I would like, by the end of the year to maintain a 100 bi average for my bank roll.

Goals for 2008:
1) to maintain a 100% ROI in $4.40s
2) to average $500 a month income or $6k in total profits
3) to win a tournament with over 1k entrants
4) not play cash games except when donking around some PLO
5) to be ranked top 5 in Cleveland and top 50 in Ohio according to p5s sortable rankings page

2007 Year in Review

2007-12-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

Starting 2007, I had no clue what the year would hold poker wise, but I knew I enjoyed playing at was pretty good at it. Little did i know, I had a lot to learn. I found myself clueless when facing many decisions so in middle February, I took the plunge and joined Pokerxfactor.com. I joined mainly to get a few questions answered and learn more about the game. As i learned from the sites pro's i saw my game get better and better. Fast forward to today, I look back at how much better my game has gotten and only want to see it prosper even more for 2008, but I'll touch on my next years goals in another post.

Highlights of the year include:
- Winning multiple 180 mans including my first $20 win for $1,080
- Finishing 5th in a 3r for just over $1k
- Getting 2nd and 3rd 1 month apart in the $5 6-max for $900 and $450 respectively
- Not paying the two time i played CC roulette in Turning stone

Lowlights of the year include:
- every final table i bubbled or was disappointed in the result (so many to count)
- every time i played cash games

I am definitely satisfied with how 2007, after playing many different games I've realized to just focus on my NL MTT game. HUSNGS are too tilting, and TSNGS make your eyes bleed eventually, and cash games, well lets not talk about that. To be continued with goals for next year....

Bloody Sunday?

2007-12-09T12:53:00.001-05:00

For the second Sunday in a row I get most of the day to play tournaments. No million today, but I do plan on playing more MTTs than last week. The schedule includes:

Stars $5.50 5k guar - Out 705th no cash, reshoved J10os from button, A3s flopped wheel :(

Raised pre b/c had the player tagged as passive, so the raise PF was for value
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1789727
Nothing I could do here
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1789823

FTP $11 FO - Out no cash QQ> KK AIPF

Stars $11 15k 10 min levels - Out 2000ish, AJ > AK AIPF

FTP $26 17.5k guar
Very weird hand, I couldn't just call the flop, I couldn't fold, and I couldn't raise/fold, my only choice was to raise/call for my stack, which brought the worst possible turn card, so i just played position and pot control, i don't see any value betting the river either.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1790260

Stars $3.30r 30k guar (2:15pm)
3pm: Stars $11 100k guar (3:30pm)

Frustrated/quit , deep, or break

To Be Continued

I plan on posting important and interesting hands throughout the day.

Wednesday 12/5

2007-12-06T09:58:00.001-05:00

Went 5-2 in 22 HUSNGs and went somewhat deep in the $10 20k for a cash of about 30. I can't believe how bad the 22s are, Its not that the players are passive and huge stations, its that they are overagressive in situations where it is not needed such as this hand:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lilOUmikey [Ks Qc]
lilOUmikey: raises 40 to 60
1DanielAllin: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [Qs 2s 6d]
1DanielAllin: checks
lilOUmikey: bets 80
1DanielAllin: raises 80 to 160
lilOUmikey: calls 80
*** TURN *** [Qs 2s 6d] [Tc]
1DanielAllin: bets 200
lilOUmikey: calls 200
*** RIVER *** [Qs 2s 6d Tc] [Kd]
1DanielAllin: bets 1520 and is all-in
lilOUmikey: calls 640 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
1DanielAllin: shows [Th 8d] (a pair of Tens)
lilOUmikey: shows [Ks Qc] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
lilOUmikey collected 2120 from pot

sure it was nice hitting my 2nd pair on the river but i just let him do all the betting for me. As far as the 20k went, I was playing really well and had a good read on every table i played. I went out on this hand: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1777084

I made a reshove with some fold equity behind and the BB decides to call a 3 bet not involved with AKos, Just a setup i think, but I don't think i call call with AK there. I guess i would need a read on the player and i had been moving my chips around a lot because of having an effective reshove stack. Nothing i can do.

LHE: Day 1

2007-12-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

played 370 hands 6-max 4 tables
$17.75 Profit

= $4.80bb's/100 hands

1338 VPPs til silver

Vomit, puke, throw up, regurgitation

2007-12-02T17:32:00.000-05:00

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1762007

Micro Baller Status

2007-12-02T00:17:00.000-05:00

Grabbin those jumper cables

2007-12-01T12:08:00.000-05:00

Lets fire this bad boy up again. It is the final month of what has been by far my best year playing poker. I have learned a lot and had a ton of success over the past 11 months. Starting with joining pokerxfactor, followed by numberous 4.40 180 man wins. Then I made my first breakthrough by making a few large MTT final tables. A 2.50 2k plus entrants, the $27k on full tilt, the $3r, and most recently a $5 6-max 2k+ entrants to go along with a $20 180 man win.

This month, I have a few goals for myself.

1) to reach silverstar thru playing a variety of games, HUSNG's, $25 NL, and .5/1 LHE, along with MTT's
2) to have a 5%+ winrate in HUSNGs by splitting the 11 and 22s.
3) if possible, actually get my first win in a non 180 man. I know this will be tough, but i think if i stay focuses and play my best, it can be done.

There will be no monetary goal, only to play my best. I am playing the Million tomorrow and hopefully swapping %'s with bcm, phenom, and murph (if he wants to be a superstar). I will post interesting hands from all the MTT's i play on here and am hoping for some constructive criticism. Thats what makes us better players right?

3 rebuy monster leaderboard

2007-11-04T23:03:00.000-05:00

results to be posted later

im so bad at poker, out in like 199th on a bubble and cashed for $30, invested $15, not too bad, but im sooooooo bad a poker

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1667017

Challenge time!

2007-10-08T18:00:00.001-04:00

Last night i for some reason played a $55 FO which is out of my BR but thought I was able to concur the field. However around the bubble i was sitting with a top 30 stack and went broke c/r'ing a straight flush draw which bricked to villains flopped top two. It tilted me really bad, and i realized that I am not motivated for any purpose so its time to rebuild, the bankroll and a positive mindset.

This challenge will consist of 4.40s on stars, $5 90 mans on FTP and other FO's of $5 and under. I will give myself 60 days in this challenge and would like to build both BR's. I would like to build PS's roll to $1k and FTP's to $600 by the end of the challenge. There is no way i can determine how many sng's/mtt's i can play in these 60 days because of fluctuation of schedule. I will update after every day that i play

Stars BR: $637.27
FTP BR: $385.52

Overdue Update

2007-09-26T09:43:00.000-04:00

So recently, I have cooled off a little and find myself a bit unmotivated in playing the best poker, I guess it comes from the two big scores and large bankroll. So yesterday I cashed out down to $800 in my PS account, and i have about $530 in my FT account. I plan on spending some of the cashout on a digital camera and some other things to "treat" myself for the good play recently.

I made the decision to decrease my BR because I invested $70 in the 5r the other day and did not even make it out of the rebuy period. I was so tilted and realized that I am not ready to handle the higher stakes swings. So now i will concentrate on up to $10 FO's, the 3r's, and some $20 180s mixed in. As for full tilt, the daily double, and the 90 mans will be my main focus along with some double stacked $26 fo's.

October is bringing a PXF MTT challenge which will get me back in the swing of things and bring motivation. Somehow i was the 4th pick overall (i forgot about the competition until this morning). I think its 4 player teams, top 20 total scores count, and must have 5 per player, I think.

Here is a little parting gift, possibly the funniest youtube video ive seen.

Take it away Lloyd Banks....

2007-09-13T15:08:00.000-04:00

WE ON FIRE!

So last night, first night having wireless in the new appt, I fired up 2 FTP 90 mans, the 6pm $5 rebuy, and a $20 180 man. I donked out of the two on FTP, wasnt really taking them seriously i think, i can't recall how i busted but w/e. I got close to the money in the 5r but overplayed 88 pf to an EP raisers QQ (I had him tagged as loose, so i figured there was a good chance he would fold preflop), and finally, DRUM ROLL PLEASE..........

My first $20 180 man i shipped it to Cleveland Ohio. Played solid poker, had some nice resteals, and the cards just fell my way. I flopped a str8 in a 4 way pot when raising 65s, won a race 44 > KQos when having 10bbs, then 1010 beat AK HU in a limp shoved pot by the villain. My second 4 figure score ever and 2nd this week! I'll be out of town this weekend, so no poker for me.

Let the Heater Continue

2007-09-10T10:35:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted for a week or so and i figured with all my recent success, an update was needed for my fans. Thursday night, i was over at BCM's hanging out, watching football and the tribe game. I registered for the 8pm 3r, and 4:30am rolls around and I am out 5th for a cool $1,100. My biggest score yet, and first 4 figure score. I played very well, sucked out in one huge pot where I was on the phone, so i wasn't really paying much attention at that point in time. I did have to work at 9am the next day but whatever, it was worth it. I was in for $21 in the tournament and my Q4s beat AQ and KJ in the last hand of the rebuy hour to give me 12k in chips.

Yesterday (Sunday) I played in 4 MTT's and cashed in 2 of them. I played the 10 minute level 15k, the $5 6 max, 3r, and 17.5k on full tilt. I got deep in the 3r and 17.5k and ended up busting 177th and 25th respectively for a total of $130 in cashings. I made a HUGE mistake in the 3r when i was top 20 in chips with a 10x misclick. Meant to bet 3900, not 39000, and OBV the guy had a set of 4's and i was getting 47,000,000:1 to call his 600 chip reraise. fjidsajflkdja;lkfjdsaklgdsa

For the rest of the week, I doubt i will play much because my internet is still NOT hooked up (DIAGF Time Warner) and I am going to visit my girlfriend at Penn State this weekend, either leaving Thursday or Friday.

Ps. Awaiting bcm to email me the pics I took on his camera of my appt.

So much for that break....

2007-08-30T09:33:00.001-04:00

So the whole break thing that i spoke of last post? Ya, i have a problem and enjoy playing too much to take that long of a break. So Sunday, i was ridiculously hung over all day and had nothing to do after like 7pm or so besides feel miserable. I remember telling myself how good i run when hungover so i fired up a bunch of donkaments: the stars 3R, FT 90 man $5, FT $27k guar, and a few others. The 3 that i mentioned i cashed in all of them. The 3R i ran QQ into KK after the villain with KK 6xed UTG +1 with them (WTF?) . The 90 man i got really aggro/bored on the final table bubble and shoved K6os into QQ blind on blind, and a SB limper called my shove with A4s, 78 no good.

On to the $27k, I had one more $26 token on full tilt and liked the structure, so the 1400 other players and i waged war until approx 2am. I got 9th for about $540 or so, not too shabby, but 1st took home a cool $6.5k FUCKKKK. I was CL for most of the later levels, say from 80 left to about 30. The card rush cooled and the table became more aggro so i was opening less pots but was getting little resistance. I bled some chips on the FT bubble when i opened K10s from the HJ, bb flatted, flop comes 9xx rainbow, i just check b/c i dont want to get CR'ed with air. Turn comes a Q, i bet it and get flatted, river CC and QJ owns. I was down to 200k chips and an M of like 4. I get to the FT and 3rd hand i have AK in the SB, MP opens i basically call my all in, i turn the world in a gutter, 2 overs, and a flush draw against the 99, but BLANK! Still my either biggest or 2nd biggest score ever, i cant be disappointed too much.

And finally Tuesday i was over BCM's and played a DS to the million, luckboxed my way to the FT after getting HU and 99 calling down my 8's full on a xK8xK board. we get 7 handed, im shortie and bye bye stars.
Dear lilOUmikey,

Tournament #59085173 has been cancelled due to technical reasons.

When a tournament is cancelled before players are in the money, we refund
each player their tournament fee, and then divide up the prize pool based
on the following formula:

- 50% of the award pool distributed evenly between remaining players
- 50% of the award pool distributed proportionally according to the chip
count

At the time of cancellation there were 7 player remaining, and your chip
count was 1,065. Total chips in play were 15,000.

Prize pool to be divided equally: $684.80/2 = $342.40
Prize pool to be divided based on chip count: $684.80/2 = $342.40

Your share in money equally divided: $342.40/7 = $48.91
Your share based on chip count: $342.40 x (1,065/15,000) = $24.31
Your entry fee refunded: $1.00
Total money refunded to your account: $74.22

ship it please, k thanks

Saturday I am moving into my new appt and i will post pics as soon as i get stuff set up.

Non-Poker Post

2007-08-24T11:18:00.000-04:00

So since Sunday I have played maybe 3 tournaments and tilted off stacks in all three and have decided to take a break until I am settled into my new apartment. I am moving in next Saturday (Sept 1st) and it will take a few days to get settled in. I will still be watching the daily x-factor videos but I will not likely play any tournaments until Labor day.

Last Saturday I went to a Browns preseason game and was disappointed with the teams effort until the end of the third quarter where Ken Dorsey led a TD drive followed by the unveiling of Cleveland's new poster boy, Brady Quinn. Following Dorsey's drive, he led the Browns to 2 straight scoring drives, and I have not heard the crowd in Cleveland Stadium with that much electricity in a long time. Which leads me to the video my friend Sara Normand made, she is a journalism major and a die hard Browns fan, the video gave me goosebumps and got me almost excited enough to buy tickets to multiple games.

Superstar Sunday

2007-08-19T12:37:00.000-04:00

It is about 12:30 pm on Sunday afternoon and I am trying to be a superstar for the day. I am posting my schedule and following each tournament, I will post the result, and any interesting hands that occur in each. I will also try to sattalite into the million via double shootouts, I will be playing these until 2:00pm when a bunch of tournaments start.

1:00 pm - Stars - $5.50 $5k Guarantee with 3k starting chips

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1387643 the shover i read as being passive in earlier hands and this might be the worst turn card in the deck, no way i can call here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1387746 meh, needed chips, nc sir

2:00 pm - Stars - $11 $15k Guarantee with 10 minute level

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1387762 yay for sundays

2:00 pm - Full Tilt - $27 $17.5k Guarantee with 3k starting chips

Dont have the HH, but UTG 8x's at 20/40, CC'er in MP, i shove AKss, and flop comes Qxx 2 spades, i brick, DIAGF

2:15 pm - Stars - $3.30r $25k Guarantee

2:30 pm - Full Tilt - $5.50 6-max, FT'ed last week

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1387904 pot bets own

3:30 - Stars - $11 $100k Guarantee, 10 min levels, 3k chips

*Break or gun to the head*

7:00 pm - Stars $11 $20k Guarantee with 3k chips

Perfect Poker!

2007-08-11T16:19:00.000-04:00

on the day of leaving for turningstone, i believe i played my best poker ever to ship this tournament. I made the right decision 98% of the time!! I couldn't be more excited for TS now!!!

Chronicles of Bubbyman15: Part 4

2007-08-07T11:33:00.000-04:00

Following his brief stint in the slammer after the bridge incident, he realized how he needs some sort of companionship in his life. Being the baller he is, he did not want to be like everyone else and buy a puppy to pick up chicks. He wanted to start a new trend. He thought to himself, "Self, what is cuter than the curly tail of a little pig? Babe did well in the theaters, I'm sure plenty of girls saw that and felt he was cute."

Also, he has gotten sick of his usual dinner of a chicken patty and mashed potatoes (The Bubbywich as it is known). He has gotten on the health food train as well. Here is the Christmas card he and Norman (the pig) are excited to send out.

Week Before Turning Stone

2007-08-06T15:40:00.000-04:00

So I am leaving for Turning Stone this upcoming Saturday night, and I feel I need to get some things accomplished before I head into these tournaments. I haven't played much over the past week or so for a few reasons. One was I got completely fed up with the turbo sng's after 3 horrible days. Two, over the weekend, I went back to OU to hang out with some friends and did not have internet access there. And three, I have been hanging out with a young lady more which cuts down on poker time, I know "LOL girlfriendaments".

So this week I am challenging myself in a non-monetary means because I don't know how much volume I can put in. I want to play my best poker at all times, aka little to no mistakes. For every tournament I play in, I want to make less than 2 major mistakes, ideally none, but brain farts do occur. I am also going to rewatch Rizen's video of his Sunday Million win because it covers so many hands and interesting spots, I feel it will be the most beneficial of all the videos on the PXF database. My high school tennis coach had the saying "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."

Also at Turningstone, I will be bringing my video camera and doing a video interview of Team Phenom bio's. All will be posted on this blog.

Chronicles of Bubbyman15: Part 3

2007-08-03T14:11:00.000-04:00

After a sick heater from the bubbyman, winning 7 HUSNG's in a row, I decide to throw him a party in his honor. He obv gets a little drunk following this sick sick day. Prior to the party, he charters a private jet to accomplish something, he wouldn't tell us what. We soon find out from numerous news reports of a tragic event has occurred and a power hungry individual might be the cause of it. Below is the photo from the network news.

Also in attendance at the party is the engineer of this bridge, Dr. Matthew Raney, who is found to be beyond drunk stemming from todays tragedy. He cannot come to stand because he is so crushed as is his masterpiece. The bubbyman is oblivious to what he has done, what does he care? He owns the heads up world now!

Chronicles of Bubbyman15: Part 2

2007-07-29T21:40:00.000-04:00

So since we last left our hero, he has hit some rough times and needed to drop down to the $11 heads up sit n'go's. As a result, he could no longer afford the pricey nightlife that he has become accustomed to over the past few weeks. Here is a picture of him and his boys Friday after bubbyman's credit card was declined for a 3rd bottle of Patron.

Day 4, 5, and 6

2007-07-28T19:09:00.000-04:00

Haven't had time to update since Wednesday, Thursday was more of the same awful beats and i think i made a profit of like $2.80 for 36 tables. Yesterday and today were fairly low volume, i only played 1 session Friday, and one today (yes its only 7:10pm but its freaking Saturday). I am happy with the pace I am on for this challenge, and I hope to play some MTT's tomorrow along with SNGs. I am like 0 for 2007 in cashing on Sundays but w/e.

So last night, a bunch of us went downtown, I volunteered to be the driver because I agreed to play golf this morning at 6:30am, pretty bad idea, but whatever, I wanted to play. Downtown might be on the agenda tonight as well. BCM might put some pics up from last night where he courageously rolled down the St. Claire hill (a sidewalk on a busy road downtown) it was quite humorous.

Daily Profit: $32.20
Total Profit: $95.72
To Go: $304.48

Day 3

2007-07-25T23:40:00.000-04:00

Felt like i was getting absolutely crushed today due to beats and what not, i guess they come in these TSNG's that are just bot shove. My first session I dropped about $12, then basically broke even after the second for the day. It was also the first time i 12 tabled on my laptop and not bcm's old one, and i had to adjust to layering the tables.

Daily Profit: $2.00
Total Profit: $63.52
To Go: $336.48

Chronicles of Bubbyman15: Part 1

2007-07-24T23:04:00.001-04:00

Bcm's roomate and my friend, bubbyman15 has made the jump from the grind of $5 HUSNGs to the $20s, and recently him and Fat Joe had a little celebration. As he steadily makes the climb into stardom, he shall become more shipitholla than the shipithollaballas.

Day 2 with image of 12 Tabling

2007-07-24T22:04:00.000-04:00

Only played 2 sessions, 24 tables but pulled in a decent profit to get this challenge going. I felt kind of tired during the second so i decided to stop.

Daily Profit: $38.40
Total Profit: $61.52
To Go: $338.48

Double the Bankroll Challenge: Day 1

2007-07-24T15:58:00.000-04:00

After doing some calculations based on how many tables i played at once (12), sessions per day (3ish), average ROI in the $3.40s (20%) and days in this challenge (18), the number that calculation came up with was about $440. So for giving some leeway, I chose to double my bankroll which when I calculated this number was at exactly $400.

Daily Profit: $23.12
Total Profit: $23.12
To Go: $376.88

New Focus: Turbo Donk n' Go's

2007-07-22T22:22:00.001-04:00

Since starting work, it has gotten hard to get in a tournament schedule. And having to get up every morning, going deep will just drain me the next day. Over the past week, i have been CRUSHING the turbo sng's, the $3.40 ones specifically. I feel comfortable 9 or even 12 tabling these. Very low variance, and basically free money if you know your ICM calculations. So my plan is to build up a roll from these, and when I have time, use that roll to hit that big score in a MTT which i am SO due for. I don't see myself playing the 4.40s any time soon unless another monthly contest occurs. In the next few days, I will come up with some sort of challenge for myself to build a roll for Turning Stone next month. There are 19 days before we plan on leaving (potentially). It will be something like a $300 or $400 challenge.

Aside from poker, at the beginning of September, my roommate kaan and i will be moving into a brand new apartment downtown. I will post pictures once we move it, the place is BALLIN'. I'll crunch some numbers tomorrow and figure out a challenge i am comfortable with.

DJ satisifying a housewife

2007-06-15T00:06:00.000-04:00

That is all

Live Donkament #1

2007-06-14T03:15:00.000-04:00

Planet Hollywood

Starting chips: 4000 20 minute levels
Buy in: $60
Field: 81
Pay: Top 9

Pretty much a standard donkament I went out when there were 3 tables left (started with 9). It was about 5 minutes before the next level, 1000/2000, from 500/1000 LOL. I see what might have been my 4th best hand all day the good ole A7 of diamonds, and i shove my remaining 5600ish. Lucksack/card rack monster stack wakes up with AK gg me.

I was trying to pull the "chip and a chair" legend. I was down to 375 chips with blinds at 100/200 after shoving 35 of clubs on the button with 3200 chips after like 3 callers, BB called with AQ, Flop: 3 10 J, Turn OBV K, River OBVVVVVV 5. So from then on i doubled from stealing blinds and winning 60/40's. My table image was as loose as bcm's mom near the end of the tourny and if i picked up a hand in there i would have made a lot of money.

I plan on playing this same tourny at least once tomorrow, they run it 4 times a day. Will keep updated.

Update/Graduation/Vegas

2007-06-13T00:54:00.000-04:00

It has been a few weeks and the whole 4 people that read this might think i died, even tho we talk on AIM. Since memorial day weekend, I tilted a lot of money off and decided to cash out most of my remaining roll until after graduation and settling into the real world. I for some reason left like $4 in my account, and I am on my way of building it back up somehow, I won a 1.75 45 player for a cool $14 and just had a very nice session of 3.40 turbos (1 win and 2 seconds in 4 played). I am going to grind those out to rebuild the roll, and also look to improve my MTT game before getting back with those. I have found my leak, and I spew WAY too many chips, especially in the middle levels of tournaments.

Today I got to Vegas and am excited for what is in store. I however am probably not playing WSOP event 25 unless I satty in. Pops thinks its too big of a buy in and obv has no confidence in me. So yesterday my Gma gave me a $500 check for a graduation present, and I am going to use that as my tourny roll. It looks like planet holleywood has a solid structure, $80 buy in, 6500 chips and 20 minute levels and it runs 4 times a day. I want to play the 7pm tomorrow and go from there. My dad also mentioned that he might buy me into a $500 tourny, so my thought was the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza which is getting 500 players per day with 10k starting chips and 40 minute levels. I will post any interesting hands/successes i have this week.

Carnie poker games

2007-05-27T03:04:00.001-04:00

So today a bunch of us, kennyj257, bcm11, and bubbyman15 went up to our local carnival which is known for its rides, games, food, and last but not least, monte carlo night. The monte carlo includes blackjack, craps, and texas-hold em. So being the poker degererate that I am, i sit down at a $1/$2 NL game with $140 at 11pm. 1 hour later I cash out with $477. Here are a few of the entertaining hands:

1) First hand I played since sitting down, I am MP with 99. UTG min raises (he has been seen as a very aggro player who put over 300 in a pot with a 10 high flush draw after a shove and a reshove). This min raise has bells and whistles going off in my head for him to have a monster. I flat call the $4 bet. The flop comes 10, 6, 4 rainbow. He leads for $10 into a $14ish pot, I sense weakness and bump it to $30, 1 for seeing where im at, and 2 controlling the size of the pot in the later streets. turn comes a 2, he bets $20, i flat call again keeping the size of the pot down. River comes a meaning less 3, he checks, and I check thinking I only get called by a hand that beats me. He flips over Q3 of spades, he turned a flush draw and picked up a pair on the river.

2) This one was fun! I am MP, 2 limpers in front, i look down to K10 offsuit and flick in the $2. Basically the rest of the table joins the fun. Flop comes 8,9,J. FP/SB leads out $10 and 2 callers ahead, i flick in the 2 red chips and the button comes along. Turn comes a Q, i shit my pants. FP and EP check, I lead out weakly for $20 to enduce action from a 10 or 2 pair. Button makes it $80 total, SB Shoves for another $100ish. I kept checking my cards to make sure I still couldn't be beated. I call and enduce a call from the button by 1) Not wanting to put my $40 in cash I hand on the table and 2) Asking him if we had the same hand. They both turn over a bare 10, and they are drawing to 3 outs to chop. River J, I scoop the $450 pot.

3) I ride the rush, UTG +1 i pick up AKos, UTG limps, I make it $12 total, basically the entire table calls (like usual). Flop comes K44, B-E-A-UTIFUL. I check because there is really no card that can come on the turn to hurt my hand. Checks around to the button (who seemed like the 2nd best player at the table to me obv). He lead for $20, I made it $50 and he folds. Said he had 99, I liked the kid so i showed the AK.

So tonight you could say was profitable, I won the biggest pot of my poker career and made roughly $350 in an hour after the 10% carnie rake and tipping the church $15. We might go back tomorrow, but we'll see. EASY GAME!

Update

2007-05-23T11:50:00.000-04:00

I suck at posting, I know. Since my last post, I have been experimenting in different games and have found that moving down a level, to the $3.40s is where I need to be. Last night i played a session of 9 tables at once!!!! It was actually kind of fun, but 9 is waaaaay to much for my 14.1 inch laptop monitor. I just finished a session of 6 and I think that is how many games I can play max. I made it to 3 or 4 handed at least in 5 out of the 6. If the blinds are huge, its easy, but if its at 100/200 or something you cant just shove, i also had to adjust to when i started to shove b/c the 3.40s have 10 players, and extra 1500 chips.

I am calling off the money challenge but would still like to build a nice roll for the summer. I'm calling it off because the past couple days, 1) i wasn't playing well, and 2) it was effecting my school work. I transfered some $ to misseri and kgmoney21, which is like cashing out $125. I still have about $300 online. I would like to get it to $500 by the end of the school year, but we'll see.

VPPS 1241
Amount to Silverstar 286

I plan on hitting silverstar Friday afternoon since I have to work on a project today, and am driving home for a bunch of the day tomorrow. I hope I have an opportunity to satty into the 100k freeroll, but if not, i'll still play the 20k.

Day 6

2007-05-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

So I made a parcial return to donkaments. I played the 1pm $5 FO and the 2pm 3R. I played very well in both but in the $5 I played way to agressive in some spots for the calliber of player that was left. And in the rebuy QQ < JJ AIPF for a 26k pot at 200/400, sigh. My internet froze on the river and of course it was the J. It is only a matter of time before I figure out the optimal strategy to close these out, I get deep so often but just cant get there. Oh well.

Daily Profit $7.52
Total Profit $208.44
Amount to go $91.56

Monthly VPPS: 795
Silver Status: 705

Day 5

2007-05-17T08:38:00.000-04:00

So I definitely jinxed it by reminding the poker gods that my ROI needed to come down somewhere. I played 2 sessions during the day, and 3 after midnight because I had a pretty strong coffee to keep me up to study. It didn't wear off until 4am, SOB. Looking back, there was only one session that brought me down, but not cashing in any in a session when playing 4 tables can put you in a decent hole. I would have gotten out of it and broke even, but I donked up the P5's $1 rebuy for 9 bucks and didn't make it out of the rebuy hour because 3500 chips won't do dick when blinds will be 200/400 and the CL had 70k.

Daily Profit $(9.40)
Total Profit $200.92
Amount to go $99.08

Monthly VPPS: 712
Silver Status: 788

Oh and I might work on a jumpshot over the next few weeks so I can try out for the cavs next year, Gawd 33% from the field?!?!?! YOU GUYS ARE PROFESSIONALS!!!!!

Day 4

2007-05-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

Another day with not much play. There are two reasons I cut today's short, 1) I have a Strategic Planning exam tomorrow and 2) My computer decided to freeze while i was still in 3 SNG's, 2 were 3 handed and 1 was HU. SOMEHOW while i was sitting out, it got HU. I don't understand this at all, if there is a player disconnected/sitting out, why would you even play!?!? Oh well more $$$$$$$$ for me! I did play/run pretty good today for the most part. I hate to jinx it, but having a 25% ROI in these is not long term attainable (I hope I'm wrong). I'm not sure if i plan on extending the challenge and uping the stakes, but part of the goal is becoming silverstar, not just the $300.

Day 1 Profit $64.40
Total Profit $210.32
Amount to go $89.68

Monthly VPPS: 592
Silver Status: 908

Day 3

2007-05-15T08:46:00.000-04:00

Got in another short but profitable session. There are pro's and con's to this. Pro's are I stop with a good profit on the day but a con is that i fail to rack up any extra VPPs. I'm 1/3 of the way to silverstar and half way to the 20 day goal by DAY 3! I might increase the goal amount if i reach the 300 by the end of the week, or i might just focus on playing solid and getting VPPs and say i completed the challenge way early.

Day 1 Profit $34.40
Total Profit $145.92
Amount to go $154.08

Monthly VPPS: 472
Silver Status: 1028

Day 2

2007-05-13T22:35:00.000-04:00

I could have played a lot more today, but I didnt feel like my head was in it mainly due to a wicked hangover. I do however run very well when my body hates me, but w/e. I don't see myself playing a ton tomorrow because of a lot of class and what not.

Day 1 Profit $26.40
Total Profit $111.52
Amount to go $188.48

Monthly VPPS: 400
Silver Status: 1100

Nice call sir, but NG

2007-05-13T17:11:00.001-04:00

PokerStars Game #9895028952: Tournament #50206276, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2007/05/13 - 17:06:19 (ET)
Table '50206276 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: cultofray (3788 in chips)
Seat 5: wisser12 (6037 in chips)
Seat 6: lilOUmikey (3675 in chips)
cultofray: posts the ante 25
wisser12: posts the ante 25
lilOUmikey: posts the ante 25
wisser12: posts small blind 200
lilOUmikey: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lilOUmikey [4h 5s]
cultofray: folds
wisser12: raises 400 to 800
lilOUmikey: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [Qh Qs Ac]
wisser12: checks
lilOUmikey: bets 800
wisser12: calls 800
*** TURN *** [Qh Qs Ac] [3c]
wisser12: checks
lilOUmikey: bets 2050 and is all-in
wisser12: calls 2050
*** RIVER *** [Qh Qs Ac 3c] [2s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wisser12: shows [Kc Kh] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
lilOUmikey: shows [4h 5s] (a straight, Ace to Five)
lilOUmikey collected 7375 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7375 | Rake 0
Board [Qh Qs Ac 3c 2s]
Seat 1: cultofray (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: wisser12 (small blind) showed [Kc Kh] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 6: lilOUmikey (big blind) showed [4h 5s] and won (7375) with a straight, Ace to Five

Day 1

2007-05-13T09:24:00.000-04:00

Ok I played/ran stupid good yesterday giving the challenge a real boost to start off. I think i played 4 sessions (16 SNGs), I would have played more but I went out a little early, the cavs "played" at 5 then i proceeded to black out, oops. I hope to get a lot of play in today seeing how I have dick else going on.

Day 1 Profit $85.12
Total Profit $85.12
Amount to go $214.88

Update

2007-05-12T11:16:00.000-04:00

So over the past week or so, its been hard to get a few hours to get 4.40s or any big MTTs. I've played like 4 4.40s and the $15k once but other than that I have found the 6.50 Turbo STT's and have had recent success. This is a completely different game than the MTTs and I find it challenging to master another side of poker. Sure they are kinda just push and pray or fold like a nit.

Yesterday stars started their 10 billion hand promotion doubling FPPS/VPPS until the 10 billionth hand is dealt, and I might have a shot at getting silverstar by the end of the month. In the spirit of BCM, I am going to start a challenge as well. There are 20 days left in the month and a decent ROI in the STT's is around 15%. So I'll set the goal at $300 in profit over the next 20 days along with achieving silverstar by then.

April Thoughts and May Expectations

2007-05-01T16:15:00.000-04:00

OPR is basically the coolest thing ever for me since nearly all the games I play are tracked by this. 100% ROI is definitely something I am extactic about. I have played so well this month, and I think this is my most profitable by at least $300. However I did not reach my goal of winning 3 $4.40's but once our team was out of contention, I started focusing on larger freezeouts, and sunday million seats to build my BR. I have cashed out $750 this month and still have a BR of over $200 to work with.

As for May, I still cannot tell how rough my school work is going to be, but OU being the party school that it is, along with me being a senior, will get me going out a little more than normal. I am going to play the $10 $15k guarantee with 3k chips at least twice a week, and play a session of 4.40's on the weekends. I cannot set a goal for right now because I just don't know how much time i can dedicate to poker.

Decent 24 hours

2007-04-18T23:52:00.000-04:00

So in the last 24 hours i have:

1) Chopped a $4.40 for $180, it was 3:30am, and i still got credit for the win
2) Won a sunday million seat in a $39 + R, only used the addon for a $75 investment for the $215 seat.
3) Made it deep for the seconds straight time in the nightly $15k on stars, 42nd out of 2242.

So i still need to figure out what im going to do with the million seat. I have $370 in my bankroll currently not including the seat, I could cash out most of that and leave the 215 in T$, or take a shot at the million on my current heater. I definitely have a decision to make.

My 4.40 team is making a charge with us piling up 4 Final Tables YESTERDAY! We're definitely still in the chase, but it will take many many hours to take the title. I still hope to win 2 more on my own to fulfill my goal.

Oh and HOW BOUT THEM CAVALIERS!?!?!?!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO CLOSE

2007-04-17T08:29:00.000-04:00

after making it through a large field last week, i came back saturday night to make it through 1500ish players in a $3 freezeout to make the final table with a chiplead, 1st takes 700+ but NOOOOOOOOOO, my QQ gets rivered a boat after I turn broadway against AA (all in preflop however). Then I once again play Ace Jack in that tourny which is the worst hand EVER. I have not reviewed the entire hand history, but i completely dominated once down to 2 tables, but donked it up at the final table to take a dissapointing 7th. Alanis once said "you live you learn".

April Update #2

2007-04-12T12:09:00.000-04:00

The middle of the month is approaching, and this contest seems a bit out of reach unless one of two of us get on a complete heater. The top 2 teams have played a sick amount of games that with my school schedule will not agree with. I'd love to win this but the structure does not set up for my situation, if there were one based on first 20 tournys played, I would have more of a chance. Hell is has been profitable, and has kept me focused in these where with the current BR i have i wouldn't be as focused.

Yesterday was a good day overall with a 5th place in a 4.40 and a 17th out of 2100 in the $10 15k guaranteed 3k starting chips. I might have played my best poker ever last night except for when it hit the final 3 tables where i became a total nit. I am going to review my HH video on Xfactor today and figure out where i had spots to reshove or open shove. BCM told me that the more i get deep in these, the more comfortable i will be. I totally agree with that, and I havent played many freezeouts lately, and haven't gotten deep at all. So with more deep finishes, the better my results will be IMO.

A little off topic here: While I was sitting in my personal financial planning class yesterday, we were talking about different kinds of banks and what not, and I thought to myself "How much interest is PokerStars gaining with the offshore bank accounts they hold with all the players bankrolls?" I never really thought that not only with the rake they charge, but the holdings of bankrolls they are generating income as well. If they are holding an average of $50 million (just a guess) and getting a 5% interest on the account they are making $2.5 million per year. Its just sick.

April $4.40 stats:
Cashes: 6
Top 5's: 5
Wins: 0

Oh and word of advice, DO NOT play a final table with your knowitall dad over your shoulder who is not a poker player. It was kind of funny to hear what he was telling me which is prob what most of the 4.40 players are thinking. But it was definitely a distraction and might have cost me a win, of which i got 2nd on a A7 < K6.

Challenge on hold, Kinda

2007-04-03T08:49:00.000-04:00

This past week i really didn't get to play much with school starting back up and all and getting a routine down for the quarter. Sometime last week I noticed the possibility of playing in a $4.40 180 man team challenge against 19 teams ( i think) via pocketfives.com. This will go on throughout the month of April, and each team will give their best 30 cashes (teams of 3). Winning team chops a touch over $1,200 and I feel like my team really has a shot.

I am setting goals for myself for this challenge/contest. Since each team member needs to average 10 quality cashes, I would like those top 10 cashes to all be top 5 finishes, and those would include 3 wins. My teamates Drarr and Lefty747 are both PXF subscribers and just as good in these as I am. We definitely have a chance, I just hope the cards fall the right way for us to get the money shipppppppped.

April $4.40 stats:
Cashes: 2
Top 5's: 2
Wins: 0

Week 4/5

2007-03-26T14:19:00.000-04:00

This is a combined update for the past 2 or 3 weeks. I forgot to post when i left for spring break, and now it is the end of another week, but i did not count spring break as a week in the challenge. I have now made the determination that i play like GARBAGE when i use T$, It's like play money to me. So from now on, when/if i win a million or any other satty, I will use that towards that tourny or another like the warmup or 2nd chance.

Some of you may know, I won another $4.40 180 player on stars for another +200 cash. This was by far the most fun tournament i have ever played. At 100/200 + 25 antes, I lost a race for most of my stack and i was left with 350ish chips UTG with A6, I tripled against AK and KJ obv, then doubled again with QJ dd vs 66. I played very maniac agressive on both bubbles, and it was so much fun. Even tho i was hung over and very exhausted from getting back from florida the previous day.

As for my plans, I am going to keep the winnings online and give the $10 180 players a good shot. $500 is a decent bank roll for it, but i just hate how they dont fill as much. I'll also mix in a $10 MTT and the $3 rebuy with a $15 limit.

Weekly Profit $83.36
Total Profit $345.12
Amount to go: $2,238.24

Tournaments won: 3
To go: 3

Week 3

2007-03-12T13:50:00.000-04:00

This week since the win of the triple shootout, I honestly haven't played much and really havent cashed since then. I started up a spreadsheet tracking my daily play, along with ROI calculated per tournament, daily, and weekly. I have won 2 tournaments since the start of this goal and i set a goal of 3 to start. I am going to up the goal to winning 6 tournaments by graduation including a win of over 1k entrants.

Weekly Profit $142.17
Total Profit $261.76
Amount to go: $2,238.24

Tournaments won: 2
To go: 4

It doesnt matter if you win by an inch or a mile....

2007-03-07T14:01:00.000-05:00

Winning's winning!!!

So I might have played the best poker I ever have last night in qualifying for my 4th seat in the sunday million by ways of a $3.30 Triple Shooout. I have not reviewed the entire tourny yet via PXF, but my final table play was pretty maniac esque. Like BCM11 said, SNGs aren't poker, they are a video game. And last night i basically beat the final boss in winning this seat. Which unfortunately I will not be able to play, even tho there is an extra $500k added by stars for the 1 year anny of the tournament. I have fraternity stuff at 7pm on Sunday not to mention the drive back to Athens from Cleveland. I will use this excess BR to start to mix in the $10 180 players. I think my $500ish BR will sustain the mix of both 4.40s, 11s and $5 and under freezeouts. Here is the closing hand by which the top 3 finishers got the seat:

Seat 1: lilOUmikey (2480 in chips)
Seat 3: EduardoBerto (1132 in chips)
Seat 4: SocietyRed (3475 in chips)
Seat 5: Luggie34 (1913 in chips)
lilOUmikey: posts small blind 75
EduardoBerto: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lilOUmikey [Kc 6d]
SocietyRed: folds
Luggie34: folds
lilOUmikey: raises 1350 to 1500
EduardoBerto: calls 982 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Kh Ts 2h]
*** TURN *** [Kh Ts 2h] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [Kh Ts 2h Js] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
lilOUmikey: shows [Kc 6d] (a pair of Kings)
EduardoBerto: shows [4d Ad] (a pair of Fours)
lilOUmikey said, "gg all"
lilOUmikey collected 2264 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2264 Rake 0
Board [Kh Ts 2h Js 4s]
Seat 1: lilOUmikey (small blind) showed [Kc 6d] and won (2264) with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: EduardoBerto (big blind) showed [4d Ad] and lost with a pair of Fours
Seat 4: SocietyRed folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Luggie34 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Yes maniac push but BAD CALL as well, sure i did it twice in a row before, but honestly WHAT CAN HE BEAT OR BE FAR AHEAD OF THERE!?!? Ship

oh one more thing,

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Week 2, Better

2007-03-05T00:49:00.000-05:00

As you can tell, I did take down a 4.40 for $216 to get me out of a huge varience rut. The following night, I think the next 4.40 i played, i got 3rd for $86. It felt great to get back to my winning ways, and I think i am playing better because of it. Playing with confidence is the key. Thinking that your AK will not hold against AJ is not a good mindset. Think as if you played well enough to get in ahead, and if you don't win that one, youll get the other 70% of them. Sure there are frustrating times that you need the hand to hold, but the odds dont give a shit about where your at in your tourny.

I did not play much today, a few 4.40s and 2.20 triple shootouts for the million, so many bad players in those on sundays you just gotta take shots at them. I did play in the $3R, paid $6 total, and made it into the 2nd hour, but AK is not as good as AJ like stated above. I won't play these often if at all at this current BR, i just wanted to play a tourny at the time, and gave myself a $9 limit. Until I get my BR over $400, i will stick to $5 and under freezeouts, $4.40s and the occasional 7.70 PL 360 max (bread and butter as i call it)

Weekly Profit: $163.97
Total Profit: $119.59
Amount to go: $2,380.41

99th Element on the Periodic Table

2007-03-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

SHIPTONIUM!!!

So after working concessions for my business frat last night until 930ish, which the crowd was like 8k hillbillys, I came to donk off the rest of the $40 diminishing BR until the sickness began. I played pretty decent and got the breaks needed to win a tourny, tried to steal from a limper with 34os from the button, SB woke up with JJ, and limper had AK, flop was 744, NOT A PROBLEM. I was due to say the least, and im sure a lot of the losses were due to overthinking the donks of the $4.40. Lesson learned to say the least. I will further ellaborate tomorrow on my weekly challenge update with more of a recap of the week.

Week 1, UGH!

2007-02-26T01:04:00.000-05:00

Couldn't really get anything going this week. No FT's in the 4.40's and nothing too deep in MTT's. I made it deep in the $5 freezeout again, but I had to go to class, so BCM donked me out obv. One thing i have realized is when I'm playing bad. In the past i just blamed it on Lee Jones but i now know when i need to regroup. I don't really have much going on this week class wise, so I'm looking to get back on the winning track that i was in december.

Daily Profit: $48.38
Total Profit: $48.38
Amount to go: $2,548.38

Update

2007-02-19T20:27:00.000-05:00

Greetings all, I have not updated for a few reasons since i set the graduation challenege.
1) I was having trouble depositing money on pstars, which has now been taken care of
2) I had not decided how i wanted to treat this challenge
3) I just hadn't played that much.

So here is the update, I just started getting back in the swing of things with a solid BR on stars, so ill be able to play to the best of my ability. I am going to stick to 4.40 180 players and $5 or less MTT's and I will throw in my bread and butter, the 7.70 360 max PL MTT. I will update my progress at the end of each week because MTT play will definitely not produce a positive income daily. These will come every sunday until graduation with maybe the exception of the Sunday after Spring Break because I do not plan on playing at all then.

I will also be posting hand histories via poker x factor, i know not everyone can view them but it is definitely a good tool. Here is one from a 180 player from sunday where i feel like i played pretty terrible but somehow got 5th.

http://www.pokerxfactor.com/HH46001/13274_20070217_234936

Enjoy,
lilOUmikey

Graduation Challenge

2007-02-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

So I have not posted here for a while but I feel like I need to. Since making my comeback about 2 weeks ago, I have made progress in my play but not the BR. I have been trying new things to see what works and what doesn't at certain points of tournys. I've made 3 FT's but havent produced any profit since redepositing.

I looked it up and see that there are about 120 days left until I graduate (Sigh). That is minus the 7 days I will be in Panama City FL for spring break. I am setting a $2,500 goal for this challenge, a little over $20 profit per day. If i focus on this goal and playing my best poker, I see no way i cannot make this goal a reality.

During this goal, I hope to be able to move up levels somewhat, and only cash out if i needed the cash for something. BCM and I have discussed him staking me for the $10 and $20 180 players which could make this goal pretty achievable by the end of April (I graduate in June). In this time, I also have the goal to win 3 more tournies, 1 being a large field MTT (more than the 360 max). I will track my progress here, maybe not daily because until after spring break my schedule doesnt allow playing every day.

Daily Profit: $0.00
Total Profit: $0.00
Amount to go: $2,500.00

Its been a week....

2006-12-24T23:11:00.000-05:00

So I haven't posted in a week exactly mainly because there was nothing special going on in poker for me, i didnt play much besides today. Too bad i did play today because it was the worse ive run EVER. Q10 beats my JJ on a J8x board, Q10 openshoved in EP. That was the sickest but everytime i got my money in good post flop, the caller sucked out, not everytime, but thats how i went busto in every tourny i played today.

For a couple reasons i have decided to take an extended break from the tables online:
1) I leave for Vegas in 2 days and won't be playing online while there.
2) School will start right after that, and poker was the source of my sub par grades last quarter, and this is my last quarter that will show up before graduation/transcripts.
3) This has been by FAR my best month playing poker EVER! I feel like i will be trying to keep pase with it while school is going on.

I forsee coming back come spring aka post March 24th, which is after spring break.

End of month results/thoughts:
I have no exact profit numbers because i stopped keeping track, but after review of my bank statement, i cashed out a cool $900. I would assume my BR was at about 200 at the start of the month, so $700 profit is not too shabby.

I feel like i have improved my game ten fold. I have much more confidence in any game i sit down to. The sunday million was a key in that. I also took down my first MTT, well chopped the chowder but still a take down. It was nice to finally get that under my belt. I'm going to miss the thrills and chills for the next couple months, but the fact is that school comes first. And with my college career winding down, i do not want to have to spend some nights at home in front of my laptop rather than spending times with people i might not see much of after graduation.

Sunday Million

2006-12-17T21:30:00.000-05:00

So my first time in the million, i made the money, the first level of the money, but i am happy overall. The reason i made the decision to play is that if i were to defer my tourny entrance, the t$ would not feel like money to me and i wouldnt play as well as if it were real money. It was also a great day for team phenom, all of us cashed, with phenom making the best payday of almost $1200. Congrats to him and also BCM for putting forth a strong tourny. We all played our best today. So it was a good investment in playing and also taking 5% of both because that is about an added $70 profit, SHIIIIIIIIIIIP.

This upcoming week, the week before vegas, i look to keep my game sharp. I'll dabble in the $10 180's a little, if i don't feel comfortable, i will move back down to the $4's. We will see.

GG TEAM PHENOM, next stop the WSOP MAIN EVENT FT!!!

A little break is needed

2006-12-14T23:04:00.000-05:00

Over the past 24 hours or so, I have been playing very very solid poker. However, making all the right plays is only part of the game that we call "no limit texas hold'em". After having my AA cracked in the 2nd hour of the $22 deep stack by QQ all in pre, I basically dominated a $4 180 player to finish a VERY DISAPOINTING 5th place. The freefall from having 2x more chips than anyone else begun with my 44 on a AQ4 flop, all spades, checked to me, i bet, and got reshoved, i instantly called to see AA on the other side of the table. A few hands later, I wake up with 88 in the BB looking at a 3x button raise, so i play the bully of the table and squeeze to see myself being called by A7, flop is 779 SIGH. The final dagger was AA vs AK preflop with me once again trying to squeeze with the "best hand". I made all the right plays, its just that the cards did not fall my way.

So with my big sunday million coming up, I have decided to take the next 2 days off of playing online poker. I need to cool down, and get in a more relaxed mode. I plan on playing the $10 deep stack sunday at noon to warm myself up for the million. If the same thing happens, i might have to make the executive decision to wait on the million. If my mind keeps thinking "how can my best hand not hold up" mentality, then i will make the decision. If i take the next 2 day off and start from scratch sunday, i see no problem in taking down the 190k first place in the million.

Million Percentages
-lilOUmikey (90% own, 5% BCM, 5% Phenom)
-BCM11 (90% own, 5% lilOUmikey, 5% Phenom)
-thephenom919 (90% own, 5% lilOUmikey, 5% BCM)

Wednesday

2006-12-13T00:05:00.000-05:00

So after i slept thru my alarm for work (sigh), I made up an excuse that i had things to do around the house. It's nice to be working for your dad, and he is not in town :-) So i played some MTT's, SNG's and AID's. oops just all but the last one. Not much luck in the MTT's or the SNG's, I even played some $10 HU's and i have come to the definite conclusion I SUCK AT HEADS UP TOURNY'S. If anyone who reads this see's me in a HU, I will send them $1 via pokerstars.

My last tourny of the day was a DS for the Sunday Million. I definitely didn't deserve to donk my way to winning it, but i did. I had two suckouts in crucial situations, my k7 beat AK with a str8 and after a 9 high flop and me moving all in with q9, being called with qq, the river 9 brought a joy to me. I topped it all off with hitting a flush to ship the sherbert. I raised in the SB w/ J9dd. flop came 4 8 10 two d's, i bet into BB, he shoved and i called, flush turned to crush his k10, GG him and on to sunday for me.

I am playing in the Sunday Million on the third time i have qualified for it. "Third time is a charm" right? BCM and I will be taking 5% of each other just to make it more fun.

A decent day at the office

2006-12-11T00:51:00.000-05:00

After getting back from celebrating my boy bill's 21st last night, i got cumfy in my recliner with laptop on lap and played a little cards. The day couldnt have started out worse with the way i was running on the tables. I played a few triple shootouts to the sunday million, didnt make a FT. I then sat down at my daily $7 +.70 360 max PL holdem tourny. 5 hours later the pot was chopped evenly 2 ways for a scoop of $516.60. I played the best online poker i ever had. Before it got short handed i played 13% of hands and won 11/13 showdowns. Once it gets shorthanded, those stats get a little skewed. I made 1 mistake all tourny and it occurred HU. A hand was checked thru to the river where i hit my jacks up, bet into the guy (i have a 4:1 chip lead at the time) he raised and i came over the top all in. Turns out my 2 pair gave him a set of 6's. SHOULD HAVE CALLED. Lesson learned.

Well i guess i have reached the goal for $500 that i set a week ago. I still look to keep my game solid for the upcoming vegas trip with bcm11 and kennyj257. I am not setting a goal except to play my best at all times. A special thanks goes out to the founders of teamphenom for the FT commentary that kept me calm during the takedown.

Day 1 of Cash

2006-12-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

Wow its nice to be on the good side of a cooler:

*** RIVER *** [7c 5s Qs 5d] [Ks]
buldos: checks
JaccoH: bets $3
lilOUmikey: raises $6.65 to $9.65 and is all-in
buldos: folds JaccoH: calls $4.50 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***lilOUmikey: shows [5h 5c] (four of a kind, Fives)
JaccoH: shows [7s 7d] (a full house, Sevens full of Fives)

Been running pretty well today, so im gonna quit while the gettin is good. I played a bunch of .05/.10 along with a $5 MTT and some 5 card draw. I cashed for the 2nd level of the $5, not a good hand all day there. And the 5 card, i hit and run after i hit a flush vs a straight, i told myself if i got up $5 then i would leave, and i did.

Starting BR: 175ish (didnt note before starting)
Ending BR: 224.79

Profit Today 49.79
Cash game total profit 49.79

edit

so i was watching this movie, really sweet (The Island), and sat down at a 5 card draw table just to pass the time. I ended up getting delt a full boat, and cracking a flush. That was a $50 pot SCOOOOOOOOPED.

So ending BR 280.74

Profit Today 105.74
Cash Game total 105.74

The discovery of cash games

2006-12-07T23:41:00.000-05:00

Yes i know they have been there this entire time, but i figured id give them a shot. I feel like the 5 card draw tables are fun and also have a potential for high profit. Its weird how to play it well, I really cannot describe it. I think i might take a break from the MTT's for a little while except the occasionaly 180 and the sunday $10 deep stack. The $500 goal has been put on the back burner for the mean time because i have been running even for the last week. I will track the progress on here.

To ship or not to ship?

2006-11-28T22:04:00.000-05:00

If you cannot tell, consider it shipped!!!! I finally have broken the curse of the bambino and took down my first $4 180 player tourny. I had a sick run of cards in the middle rounds, followed by some lucky hands later then brilliant short handed play to bring home the bacon. I only played one other tourny today which was a $5 + R which was to just hold me over while i played the 180. I made it thru the first hour with about 5k in chips, i didnt add on because well that was in the middle of my hotstreak in the 180 and frankly missed the 5 minute period, oops.

Ok so now the ROI system will be SLIGHTLY skewed, currently the $4 ROI is at 623%. Based on this success i would like to set a $500 goal not including this win by Christmas, 25 days to be exact. $20/day is doable under my no school and work only during the day.

Sunday Funday?

2006-11-27T00:26:00.000-05:00

I have continuted my success in the $4 180 player SNG's by making 2 final tables out of 5 played. Another 4th and a dissapointing 8th. The 8th might have put me on a good deal of tilt, but it didnt really matter because it was my last game of the night. AA lost to K10, and KK vs AA with 12 left really hurt. I will take the day as a positive one obv, but if those AA held, i think i could have taken that tourny down lickedy split. I also played 2 big MTT's, a $5 2k players and a $9 360 max. Got 98th in the $5 and bubbled in the $9

I have some advise for those of you playing these low limit MTT's, and its a huge cliche, but SPEED KILLS! I have tightened up a lot after the recent downspell. In the games that I have placed well I have played between 9 and 11% of hands. And things have turned around 100%. Another piece of advise coming from the one and only Steve Dannanman (not spelled right). Not making the right call is only a small mistake. These tournys are about making good folds, not good calls.

Oh and Cleveland Browns, PLEASE DRAFT A QUARTERBACK with the crap season you have put together!!!!!

$4 180 ROI - 280%
MTT ROI - 13.49%
Other SNG - N/A

New Tracking Strategy

2006-11-26T13:06:00.000-05:00

With school being out for about another 5 weeks, I am taking a new strategy in tracking my profit, and my own ROI. I have created a spreadsheet with three tabs: $4 180 player, MTT's, and other S'ngo's. This will give me more insight on which tournaments my playing style favors. I will keep the updated numbers after all of my posts.

On a non-poker note, the Ohio Bobcat football team has won its first piece of a conference championship in 38 YEARS!!!! They have also secured a bowl birth, likely the GMAC bowl in Mobile AL. They play Central Michigan this Thursday at Ford Field in Detroit for the MAC Championship. I sure as hell will be in attendance.

$4 ROI - 436%
MTT's - N/A
Other SNG's - N/A

So ive been called out....

2006-11-11T16:52:00.000-05:00

OK OK OK, I know i have not updated this for a little while but to tell you the truth, not much exciting as far as poker is concerned has happened. It was the dryspell of all dryspells. I figured last time i went thru a stretch like this, I decided to change the theme of my pokerstars tables. I just downloaded the sea or marine theme thinking that more fish would be sitting at my table then. So far its working, I won a $5 27 player SNG and went somewhat deep in a 180 $4. It is really nice when hands hold up. I did have a sick run in the tourny, but a lot of the hands weren't called preflop. I hope i can keep it up throughout the month.

Variance Day

2006-11-01T23:55:00.000-05:00

Only cash of the day was from a $1.50 2 table HORSE SNG. I have also decided to come up with a tally of races all in preflop just out of curiosity. It will start tomorrow.

Today -$40.50
Month -$40.50

Final Table, October thoughts, and November Expectations

2006-11-01T11:24:00.000-05:00

I played in a 20+2 MTT PLHE with about 150 entrants, i got down to 500 chips and kind of wanted to go to bed so i called 2 preflop raises with k5 SOOOOOOOOTED, to my delight, i was up against KK and AK. Needless to say i hit a flush on the turn to tripple me up and get me back in the game. The rest was definitely a grind but I made the final table producting a 9th place finish on a brutal hand, I raised pot with 10 10 and got reraised all in. I kind of knew i was behind but there was a lot of money in the pot. I flopped top set but QQ hit one on the turn. Best hand won i guess. Ill take the finish in the higher limit.

I feel like i have advanced my game by a drastic amount this past month. Winning 2 sunday million satallites and crushing the $4 180 players. I have produced a very nice return during the month and have not needed to reload since the end of september while cashing out $280 since along with having $300 in the BR.

I think November could go 1 of 2 ways, i keep improving my game and move on to $10 SNG's and proceed to crush them or with finals and OU basketball coming up, not playing as much as i would like to. My goals for the month of the turkey include:
1) Winning a $4 180 player MTT
2) Becoming more comfortable in the $10 SNG's
3) Become a silver status VIP
4) i think $500 profit for the month is a good goal to shoot for, ill track it on here.

Current Roll:
$132.49 Cash
$168.80 T$

Another Qualifier Take Down

2006-10-31T00:03:00.000-05:00

Today i did not have too much time to play with class and such all day. I left my night class early because the professor is just a boring idiot and we never cover much anyway. None of my roomates were around so i sat down to play a nice little session. After getting off the phone from a rather annoying conversation which almost tilted me before starting, i gave a few MTT's a shot. I think 2 $4 180 players and a $3 +R to the sunday million. Cards were cold and I got annoyed. I decided to invest a measly $2 into a tripple shootout for the sunday million. Quite possibly the easiest competition i have faced in a LONG TIME. I picked up a few hands in each of the stages and crushed the opponent when it came to HU in the first 2, didn' have to in the 3rd and final table because top 2 qualified. I decided to cash out most of my bankroll and to cash in the qualifier with finals coming up. I still don't feel that confident in the $10 MTT's and a big BR would make me want to try those more, which i dont see as a good idea right now. Therefore i am going to stick with $4 and $5 SNG's and up to $10 MTT's. I hope to make a run on my winter break before hitting vegas on the 26th of december until new years.

OMFG COOOOOOLER

2006-10-29T15:55:00.000-05:00

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to lilOUmikey [Tc Ts]
comebck#1kid: folds
NSU Biology: raises 1600 to 2400
lilOUmikey: calls 2400
budbowler65: folds
showpiece: folds
Jamie T2: calls 830 and is all-in
ursell: folds
*** FLOP *** [4d Th Ad]
NSU Biology: checks
lilOUmikey: bets 1600NSU
Biology: raises 8249 to 9849 and is all-in
lilOUmikey: calls 7032 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [4d Th Ad] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [4d Th Ad 4h] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***NSU Biology: shows [Ah As] (a full house, Aces full of Fours)
lilOUmikey: shows [Tc Ts] (a full house, Tens full of Fours)
lilOUmikey said, "omfg"'

22 left in a 180 $4 and im a short stack, i CANNOT believe that, but it happens i guess, like 1 in 1000 times!!!

Some Success

2006-10-25T01:22:00.000-04:00

Lately i have had moderate success in the 180 player $4.40 tournys. I played 3 in the last 2 days, and got 4th twice and didn't cash in the other. I wanted to win one by the end of October but with my exams this week and Halloween weekend in Athens Ohio, i don't think I'll have a shot at getting that goal accomplished. I hope i stay off PS when im blacked out this weekend, that could get ugly. TTFN.

Mikey

Who ever said bad about Party Poker

2006-10-18T00:39:00.000-04:00

As a few of you might know, a few months ago i qualified for the first round of supposidly the largest online poker tournament in history known as the "Monster" on Party Poker. In August I played in the round 2 weekly 100k, i placed high enough to qualifify and made $80 out of it. The next step was the monthly Million $ quallifier. However with the past legislation, Party Poker got the fuck out of dodge (that you worm) of the US market. Now i would think that my entry to this million dollar tournament is lost because of our favorite republican. But today while bored in a meeting, I decided to check the status of the tourny to find that i was entitled to $350 for the entry fee that i was unable to use! I am thrilled at this but am kind of bummed because the first price was 125k and 1 out of 8 was entered into the current 14 MILLION DOLLAR price pool. I'll take it.

Besides that, it was a slow day on stars. I played 4 tournys ($4 180 (2) and two $5) played decent but ran into a few cold decks along with not trusting my gut. My goal in the next 7 days is to take down a $4 180 tourny along with keeping my play solid in preparition for vegas.

Unfortunately, after reading through the issues with the Carribian Qualifiers, I cannot even try to qualify since I will not be able to play in the tourament due to OU's quarter schedule. It would have been fun to try for this but would end up hurting my bank roll at the bad time. I will have much more time for a quality poker day tomorrow.

Including the Party Poker +339

Slow day until DING!

2006-10-17T00:24:00.000-04:00

mainly stayed in the $4 180 players most of the day with no avail, got close once but AK lost to A10, terrible call by the player, but it was $4. I get back from my meetings and sit down to a 18 and 45 person $5. Somehow i end up winning both of them! I played really well in the 18 and i ran better than reggie bush in the 45. After today, I will start making my own spreadsheet for every day i play so i can keep track of my daily progress because the 3 of you who read this are probably interested.

$10 Deep Stacks Tourny

2006-10-16T11:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, since the brownies had a bye, i decided that i had nothing to do all day, so i entered into the tourny stated in the title of this post, it started at noon with 1200ish players, by 6pm, the bubble burst and teh top 135 were getting paid. 6:30 came around and my tourny was over, i made a whopping $20 for 6 and a half hours of grinding, I had a meeting at 7 anyway, so i wasn't that pissed. I get back from my meetings at 10PM and the final table was just BEGINNING! The winner would maybe get $200 per hour, rediculous. It was good experience tho just to be able to actually play poker and not having to worry about doubling up every 30 minutes. I will continue to try my luck in the MTT's with my remaining tourny $ trying to get that one big cash, along with a TON of MTT experience.

More Rebuy Fun

2006-10-15T13:51:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I only played 1 tourny, a $3 + R cash tourny. Out of 2000ish players i made it really deep and was 3rd in chips with 180 remaining. I ended up finishing 48th which i was happy about but the $5k first place was a lot to not get to. I badly misplayed 77 to lose most of my stack, the other guy played his 10 10 really weird and i didnt really know. Oh well. I am currently in a $10 deep stack, half the field is remaining and I'm an average stack. So far with the tourny $'s im up about $50, which i am very pleased with my play. Hopefully I can continue building my BR until vegas in december.

Tourny $ success

2006-10-13T01:46:00.000-04:00

Today i didn't play too much, just a $3 + R cash MTT, made it pretty deep by my KK got busted by 10 10 which hit quads, i misplayed it somewhat preflop, i gave the 3rd raise, but it wasnt enough to drive out the middle pair, i blame it on myself there, if the 10 didnt hit there i could see myself getting to the final table there.

After seeing a movie tonight, texas chainsaw ( i do not reccomend), i dediced to test the waters of the $10 MTT because i was playing with tourny $. Cashed in both that i played, but in the 45 player, i would think play would be better than in the $5, i was TERRIBLY WRONG! Here are a few calls by this one gentleman:

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to lilOUmikey [Ah 5c]
gdperson: folds
86offsuit123: folds
lilOUmikey: raises 6205 to 7005 and is all-in
rddog66: calls 7005
mknoll1: folds
taiwan_sars: folds
*** FLOP *** [7s 7d As]
*** TURN *** [7s 7d As] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [7s 7d As Qh] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***lilOUmikey: shows [Ah 5c] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
rddog66: shows [5s 8d] (a pair of Sevens)
lilOUmikey collected 15510 from pot

good for me, but wait theres more! this if for you BCM who loves my bad beat stories

Dealt to lilOUmikey [Td Ah]
mknoll1: folds
gdperson: folds
86offsuit123: folds
lilOUmikey: raises 9260 to 10460 and is all-in
rddog66: calls 9260
*** FLOP *** [3h 2s Ks]
*** TURN *** [3h 2s Ks] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [3h 2s Ks 6s] [5d]*** SHOW DOWN ***
lilOUmikey: shows [Td Ah] (high card Ace)
rddog66: shows [5c 8d] (a pair of Fives)rddog66 collected 21295 from pot

ill give the DONKEY one thing, you can't bluff him i guess! AHHHHHHHH i could have drawn together a serious BR there!

+20ish but +60 in actual cash

SUNDAY MILLION OR CASH???

2006-10-12T02:00:00.000-04:00

Today started as uneventful as the main even final table except for Cunningham calling down Gold with ace high. Following a slow day at the tables and a dwindling BR, i decided to invest in the $3 + R satallite to the sunday million. The first hour i built a decent stack with an initial rebuy and an add on after the hour. I ran pretty well throughout the tourny except for QQ losing to AK hh. But i busted the same guy with the same exact hand, i guess it is a coin flip after all. 17 out of 370 or so qualify and once it got down to 27 the grind was on, i sat on my stack and maybe played 5 or 6 hands in the final hour. I finished 5th but everyone in the top 17 qualified!!!!!! First I have a question about the PS policy of satalites, is it good for any sunday million or the one just for that week? Also, sundays might be the busiest day of the week for me with the browns followed by AKPsi stuff all night then a soccer game. What kind of cash can i get for this qualifier if possible? BCM or who ever would like to play with it, we can negotiate $$$ if cashman brian cannot be of help.

Thanks.
lilOUmikey

Success but OMG

2006-10-09T02:27:00.000-04:00

Got 2nd in a 45 player $5. Ran into card rack + calling station, bad combo. I had him right where i wanted him HU, i was down 5:1 in chips when it was down to 2, but grided my way up to 3:2 until this happened. I knew I just had to wait for that one hand to take the lead and I thought I had it:

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to lilOUmikey [Td Kd]
lilOUmikey: calls 300
n0b0dy666: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qc Kc 7c]
n0b0dy666: checks
lilOUmikey: bets 3000
n0b0dy666: calls 3000
*** TURN *** [Qc Kc 7c] [Ts]
n0b0dy666: checks
lilOUmikey: bets 24764 and is all-in
n0b0dy666: calls 24764
*** RIVER *** [Qc Kc 7c Ts] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
n0b0dy666: shows [9s Qd] (a straight, Nine to King)
lilOUmikey: shows [Td Kd] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
lilOUmikey said, "OMG"
n0b0dy666 collected 56828 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 56828 Rake 0 Board [Qc Kc 7c Ts Jd]Seat 2: lilOUmikey (button) (small blind) showed [Td Kd] and lost with two pair, Kings and TensSeat 4: n0b0dy666 (big blind) showed [9s Qd] and won (56828) with a straight, Nine to King

Poker isn't fun for everyone

2006-10-07T17:34:00.000-04:00

but is for my opponents. This was after folding 40 consecutive hands in a $3R to the sunday million, 21 qualify, 58 left.

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to lilOUmikey [Qd Ac]
JwiLL3472: folds
XPoker1: folds
tiran1: folds
tiger2004 has timed out
tiger2004: folds tiger2004 is sitting out
Ryder200: folds
Kassara: raises 6000 to 9000
lilOUmikey: raises 7758 to 16758 and is all-in
Pilf: folds Kassara: calls 7758
*** FLOP *** [Ks Ad 9c]
*** TURN *** [Ks Ad 9c] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [Ks Ad 9c Kc] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***lilOUmikey: shows [Qd Ac] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
Kassara: shows [Qc 8c] (a flush, King high)Kassara collected 37716 from pot

Pretty much sums it up....

2006-10-05T19:35:00.000-04:00

Board [4d Ah Ks 2c 8d]
Seat 1: T00Smart4U showed [5d 3d] and won (3030) with a straight, Ace to Five
Seat 2: PSUSTUD32 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: PattyPockets (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: lilOUmikey (big blind) showed [4c 4s] and lost with three of a kind, Fours
Seat 6: Medlabtech12 folded on the Turn
Seat 7: thatsalluhav folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Rick7225 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: burntbyriver folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Bad Run

2006-10-04T22:03:00.000-04:00

This is quite possibly the worst run of cards I have every had, since the MTT success, i haven't sniffed the money in any of the tournaments I have played in. I'll just have to ride it out and hope it comes around before too long.

I have also come to the conclusion that JJ is the hardest hand to play in NL. I have made many crucial mistakes with that hand that cost me. Coldcalling preflop is never the answer, because it leaves you blind if a 10 high or lower flop comes out, AA, KK, or QQ will likely have your stack.

MTT SUCCESS

2006-10-02T20:05:00.000-04:00

After a long day of class and what not, I did get into a minor tourny session. Two $5, one 27 and one 45, and one $4 180 person MTT. Cashed in all three basically doubled my buy in on the first two, but got 4th out of 180 in the $4 banking $57.60. This is my first good showing in a MTT which i feel happy about, good plays, and some good hands helped as well.

Maybe this is a good idea

2006-09-30T23:20:00.000-04:00

A good friend of mine does this, and maybe it will help me out. I wonder why I even bother with large MTTs anymore because i always make it far, being above average in chips, and this happens: 2500 player tourny, $3 rebuy, I played pretty well the first hour by using the initial add on and the after hour add on. 500 or so players left, I have about an average stack with AA in position, caller in front, I 3x, small blind goes all in for another 11k, limper calls, i nut my pants basically. But the inevitable occurred, i was up against 99 and QQ the terrible 9 hits on the river and I once again cannot finish a MTT. UGH