Its been a week....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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?

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

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....

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

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

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

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

*** 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

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

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!

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

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

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

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???

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

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

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....

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

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

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

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