I played a 900 person freeroll today at FullTilt. It seemed like anybody with an Ace or any two overcards was pushing like mad, and winning. Needless to say I was short stacked for most of the tourney, but I feel as if I was the only one playing decent poker. I bustsed out in 166th place when I flopped the nut straight. I put in a pot sized bet, player to my right came way over the top with about 2500 chips, 3rd player went all-in for 2900, so I went ahead and pushed my stack in, about 3500 or so, player to the left calls. player to the left flips AA with an A on the board, other player was playing J10, I had KJ with AQ10 rainbow showing on the board. Turn brings a rag, and the river another 10, giving player to the left a full boat A's full of 10's. I got my $$ in with the best of it, but got sucked out. Oh well.

My first favorite player was Howard Lederererer.I just like the way he was analytical about the game... stone faced... not too emotional (not really emotional at all)when I play live... I happen to be very unemotional... very stoic (I'm not sure how that happened... I'm passionat about the game, but I don't do much fist pumping.)now, my favorite players are Doyle Brunson... I can't really put a finger on what I like about him personally as a player. Obviously, I think he's a legend, and I think Supersystem is still as relevant as it was originally... some would disagree, but I believe it is. I think what you see is what you get with Doyle. He seems approachable.... and he seems to have handled his expanding fame with grace and approachability. I also like Daniel Negraneau. His "character" seems also to be geniune and likeable. He also seems to be one of the players who would help you out... answer questions if he had the time. I like the way he talks out problems with a hand... out loud... he was one of the first players who I could SEE how they were thinking about the hand... because HE TOLD US...I'm fascinated by watching Gus Hansen, although I wouldn't say he is one of my favorite players. It's interesting because I roll my eyes whenever I see online players claim to "play a lot like gus hansen"... or have players justify crappy play by comparing their play to gus hansen's.with that said... at times, in certain games (mostly short handed no limit and pot limit games) I play a lot like Gus Hansen (never intended to, and I don't brag about it... I'd rather they think I suck!)I guess for that reason... I DO like Gus Hansen.Phil Ivey doesn't do much for me... I don't know why... great player.. but his personality just doesn't attract meas a viewer.

My proudest day ever as a poker player.(so far)

I won a huge tournament.
Here are my abilities in order from best to worst.
NLHE sitNgo
Limit hold em cash games
SitnGo for hi low games and Omaha hi
hi low and Omaha hi cash games
MTT NLHENL cash

I am just terrible at these things, I play so fast from sitnGo and cash games that I forget what it is for a big tourney, and they're boring as hell too.Well, not tonight.Party has a party for free 50k tournament freeroll. Normally I would have just bought in for 10k FPP but I blew them all. So I play a qualifier, 1/30 get paid, 466 signed up.Well, I did it, I placed in the money, and not once did I REALLY have over 10k and I watched several 30 and 40k stacks crumble. Insane. I only gave out TWO bad beats, and only one other monster pot.First bad beat was me with a big stack(I got my 10k real early on) and I limped with 1 other limper in I was in the button, SB goes all in for a marginal amount eveyone folds I call, he has AQ I hit a flush.Second was the most critical. We are down to 20 now, and 15 get paid. I still have my 9k or so and UTG doubles the blind to 3,000, I have pocket nines in LP and decide to go all in, what does he turn over? QQ - F#*@! Well, I caught a nine on the river and felt really bad, but I realized it didn't matter, we both had PLENTY to sit on our hands, and sure enough we both placed, so in retrospect the bad beat hurt nobody and just helped me out.So I win a seat in a gigantic tournament that will probably have 5,000 players, all fish, and I probably won't win squat, but that isn't the point. I did better than 98.2% of Partypoker tonight. And only TWO bad beats!

Just noticed something about the last few days of SNGs on Pacific I've been playing. I vary around in different buy ins and such, and play a lot of $2 20 man tournaments to do my experimenting and when I'm just not feeling it. It strikes me as crazy that in the cheap little $2 tourney there has been soooo much tight and dare I say... good play going on. Which of course is fine and dandy, better practice for me. But then when I'm in more expensive tourneys (usually anywhere in the $8 to $30 range) there has been so much more bad play... almost likening to the dog days of the play money tables. Kinda wish I hadn't have cashed out the other day so I could afford to fire at more of the higher dollar tourneys.not really much of a point to this post now that I think about it, just an observation I made these last few days.

When I get a bad beat in a big game it's usually not a 'bad beat.' If I have QQ and I lose to AK, whatever, shit happens. If it's folded to me on the button and I raise with A5(I will raise almost every time with anything here) and I get called and flop top pair and lose to middle pair making two pair or trips on the turn, so be it, he knew I was blind-stealing and had to think his middle pair was enough, these don't upset me at all.I agree, most of the bad beats that happen are mostly from the player allowing others to draw, everyone tries to get so cute with top two pair when the flop is AK9, good job letting every single straight draw take a free card. Being aggressive isn't always leading either, if you know someone will bet, checkraise, even on the flop, make it expensive, do different things, switch it up.When I get a bad beat in 20-40 or 30-60 it's usually just 'whatever, I'll get the money back soon, no big deal'.Learn to get over it, or keep track of how many bad beats you've given, why you justified it, and don't give others to make those justifications when it's the other way around.

Annie Duke reveals her true nasty self-

Just read her autobiography. My opinion of her has sunk even lower than before. It seems that most of the talk is correct.She is NOT a nice person at all.1. she admits to being a bitch2. she admits to being a bad winner and a bad loser3. does not get along with Katy her sister4. attacks numerous other pros. attacks Jim Mcmanus, Andy Beal (calls him a fish), Kathy Leibert5. admits to screaming at her husband in the prescence of casino patrons because he wanted her to come home for the kids.6. admits to being outclassed at the high limits7. admits to being a terrible wife, unwilling to compromise, very selfish, and loving to argue.8. admits to being a snob towards anyone who does not have her level of education (yep, it is true. check the book out for yourself)9. admits to be extremely annoying at the table.10. speaks candidly about how Daniel Negreanu waged war against her, some of it over Jennifer Harman whom Annie is jealous of.11. admits to breaking up a marriage out of her desire to win at all costs.12. attacks Mcmanus by calling him short, and fat (even though he is neither)13. admits to flirting with men for the sole purpose of disarming them at the table.14. admits to gloating over the "country bumpkins" back at the tables of Billings Montana15. admits to being a former pothead, and party girl. admits to hanging out all night celebrating with her poker friends boozing it up when she should be home with the kids.16. admits to kicking her husband to the curb after she became popular.Folks, the woman is a bitch. And now every time I see her on those UB TV commercials I will feel like hurling even more.Compared to Jennifer Harman Annie has ZERO class.

Morning all,Limit related:I've been suspecting that my aggression level online and live are horses of a different color.OL I'm fearless. There be no monsters over thar!When playing live, I sometimes find myself starting to slide back into a tight weak mentality. Most of the time I am able to shake it.The "fear factor" becomes more prononunced when I'm involved in a large 3 or more way pot.Last night was a classic example.I'm sitting at a very loose table playing 3/6 limit. Most of the players are obviously more comfortable at 2/4 but the wait list is 40 deep.I'm in the BB with T7o. We take the flop 5 ways.The flop comes 10 4 4 rainbow.I decided to lead on a semi-bluff primarily but hey, TWP crappy kicker isn't a horrible hand against this table.I get a caller and a raise from the button. The button player is really loose pF and has been bluffing up a storm all night. The caller's hands have been shaking ever since he sat down and has played some dreadful cards OOP.I call the raise with the idea in the back of my mind to CR the turn. The initial caller stays in.Turn card is another 10, Kaching!Screw the CR! I bet, one call and another raise from the button. Hmmm.One of my opponents is probably holding the other T. Or one of them is playing A4, K4 or an overpair (yeah they would think it was good against a dble paired board)or heaven forbid, pp4.I reraise and both folks call.(betting is not capped, cap is 5 bets at this BM) Okay, either someone is milking pp4 (I don't think either one is capable of restraining themself) or I'm facing A4, K4 or TxThe river is a 7. Yeeha right?Final board - 10, 4, 4, 10, 7I bet, my silent opponent in the middle decides to raise AI to $12, the button reraised and it comes to me.I know I have the first player beat or at worst a split pot, no question. (He's got that worried praying to the poker gods, "I've a terrific hand, please let this be good" look about him) I'm almost certain that I've beaten the button. He hesitated before reraising. Reached for his chips, drew his hand away, then went back. I freeze up.THEY COULD HAVE PP4. I COULD LOSE. HOLY CRAP!(Yeah I forgot about a two way chopped pot)I call. Sigh! OL I try and cap the mother. Live, well, do you see my point? Any chance this is a residual effect from a month old run of cold cards when playing live?Post-tilt syndrome?Or am I beating myself up/splitting hairs over making a safe rather than aggressive play?BTW, I dragged the pot and was spot on with my reads, Opponent #1 was playing T9o, Button was A4o.

I have played in vegas 4 or 5 times in the past and always did ok....until this trip. First night playing 1-3 limit at Excaliber and just never got any realy quality hands....lost a little because I probably played too loose. 2nd night I played 2-6 limit at Excaliber and seemed to be getting second best hands ALOT with people calling all the way to the river against me while I was raising all the way witn 2 pair, trips etc... and getting drawn out in the end. 3rd night I played at the Aladdin and made some money on what seemed like a normal table. On my last night at Excaliber I was determined to play disciplined poker only playing really good starting hands and not playing semi- good hands after the flop. The table that I was playing on was strange. One guy was raising it up 6 dollars preflop EVERY hand without fail and 3 or 4 of the same guys calling to see the flop almost EVERY hand. Then one or two of them would call all the way thru. Even playing really tight disciplined hands I lost 4 MAJOR pots on the river each time to one of these guys and each time they were calling with a pair at the most and just calling my raises without a blink. The last hand I played i had (77) and called the obligatory raise to six by the normal guy. Flop was (7 2 J)and a rainbow. Normal preflop raising guy immediately bet 6 dollars. The same four guys called and then I re-raised it another 6 dollars. Preflop raising guy called and so did ALL of the others. Turn was a (A). Everyone checks to me and I bet 6. All fold but one guy. river is (10). I bet 6 and get raised another 6. I call and lose to trip tens. This guy was calling a raising player with a pair while there were two overcards on the table.My question is this: I know everyone can have a bad night and get drawn out every now and then. But this was UNREAL and the play of the players at Excalibur was a raising and calling fest to the river all the time. Even against me when I was showing really GOOD hands that I got drawn out on. Was this just a bunch of really lucky bad players for a few days or was something else going on here??? I am usually a sucessful player and I absolutely LOVE playing holdem but this has really got me questioning my play.

Watching a friend of mine in a LIMIT MTT with REBUYS on Stars last night. One guy raises or re-raises EVERY hand pre-flop. Then, if he caught ANY part of the flop, or had any POSSIBLE draw, he would raise or re-raise, or cap ALL THE WAY TO THE RIVER.Now, he loses often and rebuys about a dozen times. Finally he starts catching his miracle cards and builds his stack up to over 8000. I start berating him (mostly to try to shake him up for my friends' benefit) about his play. He's telling me to shut up since I don't understand the strategy.This is what "set me off" so to speak. This is not a strategy. Raising and re-raising EVERY HAND and maxing the bets if you flop anything at all is NOT a strategy...it's playing the Poker Stars Lottery. If you hit, you hit. If not, you play the same game again. This is not a strategy. Here's why: if he was given the option of putting 300 of his chips in BEFORE looking at his cards, and then getting to see all of the community cards, he would. This is playing the lottery....Funny ending (to me, at least). He blows his 8000 stack down to 1600 with 2 minutes before the break. (He continued to play the same way even though he had 8000). Anyway, he starts folding hand after hand and finally the break comes... but he still has 1600....SO HE CAN ONLY ADD-ON, NOT RE-BUY and then add-on!!!He realizes this too late and I giggle my ass off when he gets knocked out with KK.Long post, but does anyone think this is a "Strategy"? If so, boy, the dynamics of this strategy are REALLLLLLLY hard to learn!

So I took another trip to Foxwoods yesterday. Sat at a 1/2 NL table for 8 hours. Won 4 hands. Total. (All by the same dealer, hehe). Here's some of the fun:1) Had KK, raised to $10, 3 callers. Flop is 863, pushed all in. 1 caller with A9. Turn is A.2) Had 33, limped in with 5 other people. Flop is K63. Someone raises to $25, I push all in (about $80). He calls and turns over K8. Turn K. River 8.3) Had KK., raised to $10, 4 callers. Flop is T65. Push all in, get 1 caller with A9. Turn is A.4) Have KK, raised to $10. 3 or 4 callers. Flop 964. Push all-in. 1 caller, shows Q4. River is Q.5) Have KK. MP raise to $25, I push all-in, he calls and turns up AQ. Flop is TT3, turn is A.Ok, lost $500 in 8 hours. Could just as easily have won $500 instead, if anything would have gone my way. Talk about a major cold streak, I haven't seen any cards in over 2 weeks, either online or live.I think I'm gonna take this whole week off from poker and see how I feel after that.

I'm playing a lot of limit these days to clear bonuses. Mostly .50/1 and 1/2. I'm using Lee Jones starting hands. It's working pretty well. I'm finishing almost every session up or occasionally even, plus bonus money for a satisfactory net result. Right now I'm working on plugging leaks - one leak I know I have is that I tend to play small pairs from too early position and end up getting lousy value.One scenario I've hit a few times: I have a high pair, say JJ/QQ/KK. I raise with these. If no overcards hit I keep raising. Suppose we get to the turn and it's heads up but the turn puts three of a suit on the board. The board is not paired, so I'm dead or almost dead against two pair, a higher pair, or a flush. Usually it's a flush I'm losing to.Should I check or bet? I've been checking and calling it down but it seems every time I run into someone who played AXs who made his flush on the turn.Should I check and fold the overpair if he bets when there is a flush on the board in low limit?

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINAL TABLE OF THE USPC, STOP READING NOW, BECAUSE THIS IS A SPOILER...I don't think I've ever felt worse for a player than when D'Agostino got busted (basically) by Hoyt attempting to take his BB from the SB when everyone folded around (which I'm guessing was almost an automatic move by Hoyt...but I could be wrong).So I'm just curious how everyone felt about his mental collapse when Hoyt asked if he'd push over his chips (all but the singe 1000 chip he had left) over to him and he proceeded to shove them in a very undelicate manner over to Hoyt.I, myself, do not recall ever seeing someone act so poorly at the poker table yet feeling not one iotta of animosity towards him. The hand was nausiating, and his actions, while very "unsportsmanlike," were actually surprisingly restrained.The quick backgroud, of course, is that John went to the final table with something like 1.6 million in chips (about four times? more than second) and took bad beat after bad beat (throwing in one ill-timed bluff and a hard call which made it so) before this hand. The hand was Hoyt in the SB and John in the BB with folds around and Hoyt moving all in with 78o. John finds TT, almost defeatedly calls (probably expecting a race situation), only to find he's a huge favorite. Flop comes X77. Okay. That's bad, but the turn is the fourth 7. Thinking about the hand and the ridiculously play by Hoyt still makes me nautious.Anyway, just wanted to get this ball rolling and say that I have never enjoyed the antics of Hellmuth and Hellmuth-like players who act poorly at the table, and this is the only time I've ever seen someone act poorly where I did not, not even for one second, hold it against them.My $0.02.

One day I'll get used to the swings. Right now, I am on a huge down swing. My pride in having brought my BR to over $200 is long gone. And I've whined about this a lot, many times on this forum; why am I doing it again? Because in the past when I've done it my down swing ends. Hopefully that tradition will continue.Ok, let's get to the huge news from this week, MY FIRST CASINO VISIT!!!!!!This past Saturday I hopped on a casino tour bus to head to the Grand Casino Coushatta in Kinder, Louisiana. On the way to the casino I tried to sleep, however I was way too excited. Once I got there I got my "casino card" and made my way to the poker room. I had about $330 in my pocket, and I got $160 in chips. I then made my way to the 3-6-12 Hold'Em table that was just setting up. Most of the players in the room were involved in a tournament, so the cash games were a little bare. However, my table filled up nicely pretty quick. I got a coke and started to play...and fold...a lot. At one point I realized that my hands really were shaking when I put out my bets. To calm my nerves I ordered two beers (I normally would never drink when I play). After the two beers I went back to soda. The first thing I noticed was the truth about how loose these games are. I saw three people go through over $100 pretty damn quick. I couldn't believe what cards they were playing. The other thing I noticed, as opposed to online play, is that even when I got "good" cards, they weren't that good. I got A,K twice (and never caught crap on the board) and I got QQ once (and got beat by a guy with K,5). No, my first win at a live table would come with 9,9. I won a small pot off of a sweet elderly lady (and calling station) who stayed in with 5,5. The big hand for me this day would be J,9. On one hand with that I got 7,8,x on the flop and a 10 on the turn. I got the bets going up high on the river (I like the $12 bet option on the river) and ended up going heads-up with the man next to me who had the bottom end of the straight. The second time I got J,9, I got two 9's on the flop. What did I do? I did exactly what most people say not to do, I slow played it. Checked around to one guy who bet and I called. When the river came with a J I had fireworks going off in my head. The only thing that worried me was someone with A,9 since there was an Ace on the board. If it wasn't for that ace I would've raised the final bet up to $36 instead of the $24 it was at. I flipped my cards over and brought in what was close to a $100 pot. At this point the sweet, elderly calling station informed the table that she was going back to her slots. Through the entire day I made only one major mistake as far as casino ettiquite. I had 8,Q and the flop came 5,5,x. I had crap. Two guys bet on the other end of the table and I had thought that it was my turn. The guy next to me had his cards covered with his hands and having been distracted pre-flop I thought he had folded. So, I reached out and laid out a raise (seeing if I could bluff). The dealer then informed me that it was not yet my turn; I was mortified. 3 hours of being a great casino player and now I made a mistake. I apologized to the gentleman to my right, he said it was no biggie and folded. I then laid out my bluff raise. The gentleman to my left called, and the two guys on the other end folded quickly, one of whom commented, "Boy, that's a tell if I ever saw one." The turn came and I quickly bet $6. The man next to me folded and I bluffed my pot. I bought in with $160 and then cashed out for about $327. All and all a very successful casino visit. And I plan on going back in a couple of weeks. It was an interesting ride back to Houston, looking at the faces of the people who lost their money on slots, Blackjack, Roulette and Craps. My only moment of bragging came when the man across the ailse from me was lamenting his losses and turned to me to ask, "So, did YOU punish the casino?" I replied, "No, I punished other people; I played poker." Now if I can just get my online game back together.Before I close this out I want to send a huge THANK YOU to all the people on the Live Play boards who kept my head on straight and let me know what to expect. I also want to send a personal thank you to "JimmyJohn" who I got to meet at Coushatta on Saturday. Thanks for all your help man, it was great meeting you.

My girlfriend works for a tax firm so a bunch of us get to go on a short get away w/ the boss for the weekend at the end of tax season.The first night there everybody is pretty much drunk and a poker game breaks out. I'm probably the least drunk(isn't saying much) and probably the best player (again, not saying much) so I figure I'll get some easy cash. My girlfriend wants to play too so I give her $50 (that was the buy-in, and we are playing a cash game). The first hand she plays is when she checks in the BB. She flops top two pair and starts betting aggressively (which oddly turns me on) and it's down to her and a calling station that limped in on the button. My girlfriend goes all-in on the river with a raggedy looking board. She shows her top two (her cards perverts)and the calling station looks at her cards and then realizes what she has. "Full house fuckers!" she yells and takes my $50. I think she played T4 or something and hit runner runner.Anyway it takes me about 90 minutes to get back that 50 from that girl and then I about triple my other 50 I had on the table so it was a decent night for a short session.The next night I tried to steal a pot after I missed my draw and my girlfriend comes over the top of me and moves all-in. There's no way I could call so I fold and she turns over absolutely nothing. Again, oddly I was more turned on that upset that she took my money. I eventually came out ahead again because there was a couple of drunks playing any two $ooooooted cards.All in all a good weekend. I basically got drunk all weekend on other people's money because of the poker games.

To become a pro you first have to either place far in a WPT event or win a big tournament, this is the way with the least risk but highly unlikely to happen. If I finished 10th or higher in a WPT event I would turn pro. Tournaments are so big that anything above 10th place is probably more than 80k dollars in winnings.WHAT I WOULD DO1. Play as many cheap online satelites as possible hoping to qualify for big events: Even if I won 80k or even 200k on the WPT and turned pro after that, I would never pay $1000 bucks to play a satelite. If I can't qualify by playing cheap satelites online and the deadline passes, I would play those 60-100 dollar pre-tournament satelites in the casino hosting the WPT event.2. Play the PPT: Placing high on a WPT event probably qualifies me to play on the PPT. I would play each of these freerolls as seriously as possible hoping to make a final table. Making a PPT final table automatically qualifies you for the next season.Basically to turn pro I would need to place far in a big tournament. I would try entering as many tournaments as possible by playing cheap satelites, I would never pay 500 bucks or 10k to enter a tournament.

I deposited $100 on Paradise on Saturday night. When I went to bed I was at $200. I played all day yesterday, and peaked at $660.Every monster hand I won was with a pocket pair. Boated up with 88 and AA on the river for around $70 each hand, KK on the turn for $80. Took about $80 each with JJ and AA that were just over pairs. My favorite was when I called a $12 raise pre-flop with 88. Flop comes out AJ8 rainbow. I bet $65 into the raiser, he pushes all in for another $65, I call and he turns over AJ. So that was about $150 I made there.Then I lost 2 monsters. TT and QQ, got beat by 33 and JJ respectively, when they both hit sets on the flop. And I'm betting the shit out of the flop because my pairs are over. I lost about $250 on those 2 hands, plus a little more. So I'm down to $360 from $660.Did I play my TT and QQ wrong. With TT I raised $15 and got 5 callers, so the pot was big already. The flop comes out 379 rainbow. I'm first to act, and I want the pot so I pushed with an overpair. Pocket 3's calls, I lose $100.With QQ it's raised to $8, 1 caller to me. I make it $20. Flop comes out 6J9 rainbow, I bet $50, dude thinks about it, and calls. An A on the turn, I bet another $50, he puts me all in for $25 more, I call. He turns over JJ. I can see how betting on the turn with the A out was sloppy, but...Are there any ways to "smell a set" and lay down your over pair, especially out of position? Both flops appeared to be harmless to my higher PP's.

The swings are beating the shit out of me.Thursday, I can't catch a hand, it's driving me crazy. Down $30.Friday, I can't lose! A never ending string of boats! Up $60!!!Saturday, settling down a bit. A little up, a little down, breaking even.Sunday, why is it in stud that whenever I have Ace's and King's someone clings till the river when they make their straight???? And why is it whenever I get dealt QQ in HoldEm, someone else got dealt KK! I shit you not, I got QQ 5 times Sunday and each time someone had KK! And I don't mean they got a K on the flop, they had pocket K's. FUCK! Down $50.I played a little this morning too...Down $10. So, NIN was talking about leaks in an earlier post. He had mentioned that he had plugged all the leaks he knew he had. So, my question is, How do you locate these? What do you use? Do you use Poker Tracker? I downloaded that program and can't figure it out for the life of me. Besides, I've enjoyed playing stud more than HoldEm lately and poker tracker doesn't work for stud. I'm planning my first trip to a real casino card room. I'm thinking of hitting Grand Casino Coushatta in Louisiana this Saturday. Stud is rare there according the room manager I talked to, so I'll probably be playing 3-6-12 Hold'em. In preperation I am reviewing Lee Jones' book and playing small limits on UB all this week. I may even jump into their noon tournament. I'm planning on taking about $200 to play with and maybe another $75 for food, tips and whatnot. QUESTION ABOUT TIPPING: Is it customary to tip the dealer EVERY time you take a pot? What if there's no flop and you just pick up the blinds? Though from what I've heard about the low limits in these places not having a flop would be rare. Does anyone know how long it takes to withdraw money from UB? I know PartyPoker takes less than 12 hours, Pacific takes about 4 days, so where does UB fall in there?So, wish me luck this weekend. Being my first time if I end up breaking even I'll consider it a success.