2007 Year in Review

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?

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

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

played 370 hands 6-max 4 tables
$17.75 Profit

= $4.80bb's/100 hands

1338 VPPs til silver

Vomit, puke, throw up, regurgitation

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

Micro Baller Status

Grabbin those jumper cables

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

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!

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

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....

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

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....

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That is all

Live Donkament #1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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....

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

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

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!

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

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

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