Mow...en...um...down

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ...

2007-12-04T14:24:00.000-06:00

Wow this year has really passed quickly. When I was young, I can remember old folks saying the same thing and it just didn't seem that way. But now that I'm one of those old folks I have a different perspective.

I would like to take this time to wish you and yours a MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!! And yes In this time when many of our major retailers are going with slogans such as "Holiday Sale" and "Winter Sale", I am one of the ones who still leaves CHRIST in Christmas. So there's my public announcment for today.

I haven't had much time to play recently but I played a NLH multi today with 143 players and got 3rd for a decent payout. I lost when my A 6 met up with A 10.

I hope everyone is having good luck on the virtual felt.

2007-11-05T07:37:00.000-06:00

It this a dream or am I really in a high stakes golf match with Phil Ivey, Eric Lindgren and Howard Lederer at the Capitol Golf Club in beautiful Australia? It is hard to believe that what started as a small group of poker playing bloggers has brought me to this point.

As I waiting to tee off on the ninth hole, my mind drifted back to the Full Tilt Battle of the Bloggers Tournament of Champions. The tournament was only for people with poker blogs with the winner receiving an unbelievable Aussie Millions tournament package from Full Tilt.

Flash back to the TOC ...

Being a TOC, it was a star-studded field. I played my normal tight game and managed to limp to the final table. The final table was as talented as any that I have ever played with. It consisted of.

Seat 1 – Surflexus (One of my best friends from high school)
Seat 2 – Highonpoker
Seat 3 – Gcox25
Seat 4 – TripJax
Seat 5 – Katitude
Seat 6 – Hoyazo
Seat 7 – This was where I was seated
Seat 8 – Mookie
Seat 9 – AlCantHang

I was short stacked when the final table began but managed to triple up very quickly when I caught pocket Jacks and they held up, that win gave me a little breathing room. I have played with these guys (and girl) on many occasions so I was very surprised at the tight play; this tournament just had a different feel. As time went on one by one, players began to fall. There were a few rough beats, but for the most part it was just solid play. I won’t bore you with hand recaps but there was one hand that changed the course of the tournament that I will share. We were down to three players, Myself, Surflexus and Mookie. I was the short stack. I was dealt A 8 in the Big Blind; Mookie was first to act and made a considerable raise, Surf folded. With the blinds being so large, I decided to push all in. Mookie instantly called and turns over pocket 10s. I’m thinking, there goes my shot at Australia. The flop comes Q, J, 9, the turn is an 8 giving Mookie the nutt straight. I almost passed out when one of the two remaining 10s fell on the river to counterfeit his straight and give me a split.

I rightfully should have been out of the tournament but after that hand, I couldn't lose. In the next 10 hands I caught pocket Aces twice and pocket Kings once, winning huge pots each time. It came down to me and my great friend Surflexus, but the cards went cold for him at the wrong time and I won! Australia HERE I COME !!!!

The flight to Australia was prefect. When I arrived at the Crown Casino and Resort, I was taken back at the beauty of this facility. To say it was first class is an understatement.

While I looked forward to playing in the Aussie Million, I couldn't wait to play in the $200 buy in bounty tournament sponsored by Full Tilt on first night. It was only for the people who won trips and the Full Tilt pros. My first table I was seated with Phil Ivey. I tried to act cool but I am sure that my nerves were showing. At one point Phil asked if I played golf, he must have noticed that I used a golf tee as a card protector for good luck. I told him that I was an 8 handicap and that I played regularly. He told me that they had an opening in their foursome the following morning if I would like to join. Are you kidding me ???? Of course I would like to join.

Back to the ninth hole, Phil and I are up a considerable amount on Howard and Erick. I stripe another drive down the middle and all I can think is, does it get any better than this? Sure it can, I still have the Aussie Millions to play for!

Decent Night of Poker ...

2007-11-01T16:14:00.000-05:00

I made a decent run in two tournaments simultaneously on Full Tilt last night. I played in the 24k guaranteed with 1080 players and made the final table. I feel that I played well but a few key hands prevented me from winning it. One key had was with about 25 players remaining I was dealt pocket 10s. Blinds were 5,ooo/10,000 so with 80k in chips I had to be prepared to go all in with any good hand so I pushed with my 10s. The BB thinks for a minute and calls. To my surprise he held A 8 unsuited. The flop comes J Q 9, an 8 hits on the turn to give me a straight. At this point he can not win the hand so I'm prepared to rake in 170,000 pot which would put me in the top 5 in chips. BUT !!!!!!!!!!! One of the two remaining 10s hits on the river to counterfeit my straight for a split, GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR !!!

Thanks to my friend, Surflexus for railing me.

While I was playing in the 24k, I decided to get in the Mookie. I finished 12th in it. Thanks again to Mookie for hosting.

I'm Still Alive ...

2007-09-09T09:25:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is doing well.

With the new laws making it nearly impossible to make a deposit and my Full Tilt balance holding at .04 (yes that is 4 cents) I haven't played much poker lately. With that said, I have the itch to play again so I tried something that I rarely do, I played an FTP tournament. I am not big on free rolls, why you ask, I don't like playing a $100 free roll with 2549 other donkeys only to play for 6 hours to win $8.77. I just can't make myself do it. That brings me to the FTP tournaments. I really hadn't looked into these much thinking that they were basically like free rolls. My opinion has changed after I qualified for the 1 Million Guaranteed tonight using FTPs.

I started by playing in a 54 player sng (cost 50 FTP), this was by far the most difficult because only the winner advances to the next satellite and guess who won .... MEEEEEE.

The next step was an 1884 player tournament with 108 advancing. I was able to hold on and advance.

So hopefully I can make those 50 FTPs payoff tonight. I will update later.

*** edit ***

I made it to the third hour and was middle of the pack in chips when I got knocked out. I made a good read on the hand that I lost with but lost anyway. I had J,K in the BB, their was 4 callers in the hand. The flop comes K, 7, 10 with 2 spades. The player on my right makes a size a small bet, I make a large raise to get any flush draws out, everyone folds except for the original better. My raise basically makes him pot commit ed him if he calls so we wound up being all in. He turns over his cards and ..... you guessed it a flush draw and not even the nut flush draw (he had 5, J of spades). You usually expect this type call in the first hour of a tournament but not in the third hour. The turn is a blank, he rivers the flush and my chances are over.

Personally, I don't like to put my tournament life at risk with a marginal draw. But if anyone still reads this here blog, give me your opinion, if you have that same draw do you call? Keep in mind that we both had 6k in chips (avg chip stack was around 5k)

Tagged ...

2007-05-17T09:53:00.000-05:00

It has been a while (Jan), since my last post. I am dusting off my keyboard because my boy, 23skidoo, tagged me. Before I get into the "7 Things About Me", let me give you an update on whats happening.

I have spent a lot of time with my granddaughter, she is now 17 months old.

Since my son has gotten married and moved out, I moved my office downstairs and moved the guest bedroom upstairs.

I have played a ton of golf and very little poker.

I have shared a few things on here about my love for my father. He lives in Dalton Ga, (about 2 hours from me) and has never seen my home. I am picking him up next Tuesday and he is going to spend a few days with Susan and I and I am taking him to the Braves game on Tuesday. He hasn't been to a game in over 20 years so we should have a great time.

I am very fortunate to have a great connection for Braves tickets. My wife is a para-legal and the attorney's that she works for have season tickets. The seats are unbelievable, they are front row, right behind the Braves on-deck circle.

So ........ 7 things about me ...... hmmmmmmmm

1) I am a Christian. I was saved 15 years ago.

2) As many of you know, I play golf. I have an 8.9 handicap index. I have had a double eagle (scored a 2 on a par 5), but I have never had a hole in one.

3) I was a District Manager for a major retail store chain until I decided to move on Jan 15, 2006. Now I just manage myself and I am loving it!

4) I love to travel. My wife and I have been to many beautiful places, but one of our favorites is only 5 hours away. We love the beach in Panama City Fl.

5) My friends and family have always said that I am a lucky person. A couple of recent examples are : 1) My mom loves to play bingo. Her husband recently passed away and to get her out of the house, I took her to play. Keep in mind that I hadn't played bingo in years. Guess who won the $800 jackpot, yes MEEEEEEEE! If you want to know how to make 300 older women angry, just yell BINGO. Another example, I don't play the lottery very often but last week I bought a ticket and won $500.

6) I don't believe in luck. I think you make your own "luck". I do believe in the power of positive thinking. I have always looked at the glass as being half full. I believe if you think that bad is going to happen, bad will happen. If you hear someone say, "I never win a race", they will never win a race :)

7) I go back on the road in June so I will be playing more poker.

I am not sure who to tag, so if anyone still reads this here blog, consider yourself tagged.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

2007-01-02T10:33:00.000-06:00

I hope that each of you had a prosperous 2006. I managed to accomplish many of my goals. I had a very solid year in online poker. I didn't have any huge wins but did win $1,000+ three times. I finished the year more than 6k in the black. With the money that I won in December, I bought a flat screen TV and mounted it in our bed room.

On a personal note, the wife and I closed the year out in a cultural way. On Dec. 30th we went to see the Nutcracker at the Fox Theater. On New Years eve, we went to Atlantic Station to see the Cirque du Soleil. All I can say about that show is WOW. If you have never seen it, you need to make plans to attend.

As many of you know, over the last six months I decreased my online play time. This is due in part to the way that I am built. When I get into something, I tend to go through a period where that "something" rules my life to the point that I burn out on it after a while. I am to that point with online poker.

There are also a number of other factors. First my granddaughter just had her first birthday. If any of you have grandchildren I am sure that you can relate, she has me totally wrapped and I can't see setting in front of a computer for hours on end when I can spend time with her.
Second, I have came to the realization that while I have profited nicely playing online poker, I am not going to win life changing money online. So from a poker standpoint, I see myself playing more live tournaments in 2007 but limited online play.

I have lost my blogging mojo ...

2006-10-27T19:40:00.000-05:00

If anyone finds it, please let me know! I have just not had the desire to sit and write like I used to. I could give you a million excuses, like I have no time etc. But the truth be known, I'm in a writing funk.

I missed the weekly fantasy football update. (I promise to have a new one out after this weeks game). I have also lost touch with the blogger tournaments.

I hope everyone is doing good on the virtual felt, atleast in those rooms that will still have us.

I have had quite a run over the last few days with 2 final tables in multi events as well as a 12th place in another. Below are the details.

** PokerStars #34146659, No Limit Hold'em Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00 648 players
Dear mowenumdown, You finished the tournament in 12th place. A $106.92 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

** PokerStars #34146710, Pot Limit Omaha Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00 219 players
Dear mowenumdown, You finished the tournament in 4th place. A $175.20 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

** PokerStars #34146725, Limit Razz Buy-In: $30.00/$3.00 64 players
Dear mowenumdown, You finished the tournament in 3rd place. A $355.15 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Other than helping my poor bank roll, I was happy to do so well in 3 consecutive events. And another cool thing is each tournament was a different format. I have fallen in love with Razz!

BFFL Update ...

2006-10-10T18:27:00.000-05:00

Week 5 is now complete. The standings are as follows.

1) The Raven
2) Mookies Minions
3) Hometown Hornets (Drewspop)
4) Hoyazo

5) Vegas Hurricanes (Miamidon)
6) TripsRight
7) Mowenumdown
8) Floppin Nutz
9) Surflexus Bigcats
10) The Non-Blogger
11) General Lees Troops
12) Waffle House of Pain

The top 4 teams make the playoffs.

***************************

BFFL TEAM OF THE WEEK

Hometown Hornets

The had a 73 point output to beat Floppin Nutz.

MOWED DOWN TEAM

Vegas Hurricanes

They only managed 29 points.

Finally, another final table ...

2006-10-09T23:05:00.000-05:00

For those of you in the fantasy football league, sorry that I didn't post an update for last week. It was a rough week, but things have settled back into a routine this week.

I forgot about the Hoy last night so I decided to play a $20+2 Limit Stud H/L. There were 160 players and after almost 5 hours of the roller coaster called stud poker, the last 7 of us decided to chop. The chop gave me 3rd place money ($380).

With my playing time having recently been reduced, it was my first final table in a couple of months. I hope to play in the upcoming blogger events.

Thanks to surflexus and kat for railing me.

Call me Jimmy The Greek ...

2006-10-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

I hit two nice college winners out of my three that I played. Luckily the one that I missed, I played the smallest wager. I hit S. Fla. getting 4 against over rated Rutgers, and on my biggest play I had an easy winner with Ga. Tech. Tech was getting 10 and won outright. I missed on the Georgia/Miss. St. game as Ga didn't cover.

My strongest Sunday play is the Dallas Cowboys over Tennessee Titans. Dallas is giving up 10 points, but Vince Young will realize that he is not in college anymore.

*** Edit ***

Dallas was a HUGE winner! I also paired Dallas with New England in a 2 team parlay for a $130 winner!

I use BetonUSA to place my wagers, it's simple and easy to track your progress.

If you want to get started with BetonUSA, click on the link below, there are several promotions going on now.

http://www.betonusa.com/refer.php?ID=mowenumdown&URL=http://www.betonusa.com/sportsbook/

2006-09-26T19:55:00.000-05:00

The BFFL week 3 is in the books. There were some very good games and the surprise of the league is that Mookie is still undefeated! WTG Mookie!

The top 4 make the playoffs and all 12 teams are still in the playoff picture.

League Standings
1) Mookies Minions
2) The Raven
3) Vegas Hurricanes
4) TripsRight
5) Floppin Nutz
6) General Lee
7) Mowenumdown
8) Waffles House of Pain
9) Hoyazo
10) Hometown Hornets
11) Surflexus Bigcats
12) The Non Blogger

I have absolutely no future as a Vegas handicapper as I picked Mookie to finish last and The Non Blogger to finish near the top.

BFFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – Mookies Minions takes the honors with his 28 point victory over Hoyazo. He set a new BFFL point record with 89!

MOWED DOWN TEAM – Waffles House of Pain could only muster 46 points in a losing effort.

GAME 1 – Floppin Nutz – 56 over Mowenumdown – 47

It came down to the battle of the Bells (Mow has Mike and Nutz has Tatum) as both teams were in a virtual tie going into the last game. In the first two games the two had basically spilt the carries, however for this game Tatum was named the primary ball carrier. As a result, he recorded 6 points and Mike recorded none.

Difference in the game – For the Nutz, G. Jennings had a HUGE TD catch and recorded 11 total points. He was projected for 1.

GAME 2 – The Raven – 62 over Hometown Hornets – 49

The Raven got solid performances from T. Brady and T.J. Whosyourmama while the Hornets only had two players reach their predicted total.

Difference in the game – Fred Taylor lost 135 yards as well as one rushing TD to rookie Maurice Jones-Drew. This would have made a huge difference in the outcome.

GAME 3 – Surflexus Bigcats – 68 over Waffle House of Pain – 46

This has to be considered the upset of the week. Surf won despite one of his starting running backs being on a bye week. Surf got a huge performance from RB C. Portis (19 points) as well as QB C. Palmer (21 points) . Waffles had solid play from most of his players but WR P. Burress hurt his chances with –1 point.

Difference in the game – Surf got 40 total points from two players. If anyone gets 40 points from only two players, they will get a W.

GAME 4 – TripsRight – 54 over The Non Blogger – 48

This was a battle of two evenly matched teams. Trips got solid play from several players but WR D. Jackson put him over the top with 14 points.

The Non Blogger took a huge hit when top pick S. Alexander broke his foot. It will be tough for them to overcome this loss.

Difference in the game – TNB only got 8 total points from their TE, K and Def while Trips got 22 from those same positions.

GAME 5 – Mookies Minions – 89 over Hoyazo – 61

Just call Mookie the steam roller. He had huge performances from QB E. Manning, WR R. Williams, WR J. Walker and RB B. Westbrook. The only disappointment for Mook was his TE.

Call it bad timing for Hoyazo, his 61 point output was the 4th highest of the week. He received great performances from his Kicker as well as his Defense.

Difference in the game – It would have been tough to beat an 89 point output but Hoyazo lost several points at the QB and RB positions.

GAME 6 – Vegas Hurricanes – 57 over General Lee – 53

Vegas rode a 28 point day by QB M. Hasselbeck to victory. He needed it as one of his studs (F. Gore) missed part of the game with an abdominal strain.

General Lee got solid performances from his Kicker as well as his defense, but 8 total points from his RBs and WRs.

Difference in the game – Hasselbecks breakout performance of the year.

BFFL Week 3

2006-09-26T19:31:00.000-05:00

Blogger Fantasy Football - Week 2

2006-09-18T22:44:00.000-05:00

Week two of the Blogger Fantasy Football League is now in the books. And the only undefeated team is Mookies Minions, (who I picked to finish last). The fact that only one team is undefeated after two games prove that this league is very close.

*** BBFL TEAM OF THE WEEK
General Lee – Team puts up a BBFL record 84 points.

*** MOWED DOWN TEAM
Hoyazo – My how things change. Just last week Hoy was the “team of the week”. This week his team only managed 40 points and my kicker had as many TD passes as his QB did.

**********

GAME 1 – Mowenumdown - 70 over Hornets (Drewspop) - 56

My team followed up last week’s tough loss with a solid performance. Kicker R. Longwell put my team over the top when Minnesota faked a field goal and he completed a TD pass. Dallas WR T. Glenn also had a solid day.

For the Hornets D. McNabb continued his great play putting up 20 points. Unfortunately, his two studs (L. Johnson and A. Gates) were held to 8 points combined.

*** DIFFERENCE IN THE GAME *** The Hornets wide receivers could only muster a combined 10 points compared to 23 by Mows wide outs.

GAME 2 – General Lee – 84 over The Raven – 71

A great game by both teams. Ravens 71 points would have won almost every other game this week. General Lee got HUGE performance from Payton Manning (26 points), as well as Baltimore’s defense (27 points).

For the Raven, his running backs tried to keep him in the game but his wide receivers let him down.

*** DIFFERENCE IN THE GAME *** Tom Brady’s bad game coupled with Payton’s big game was the turning point.

GAME 3 – Waffles – 72 over Floppin Nutz (23skidoo) – 53

Waffles had solid performances from P. Burress, D. Stallworth, R. Lindwell and the Seattle defense. His QB (Bulger) had a rough day but should rebound.

Nutz stud running back L.T. got on track with two rushing TDs, but 8 combined points from his wide receivers proved costly.

*** DIFFERENCE IN THE GAME *** If you compare the combined scores of the 3 WR and 1 TE positions, you see where this game was won. Waffles 26, Nutz 9.

GAME 4 – The Non Blogger – 41 over Surflexus Bigcats – 40

This game went back and forth but the Non Blogger hung on for the win. NB got solid production from her RBs to take the victory.

For Surf, Carson Palmer had a very nice day but only 2 points from his running backs cost him a W.

*** DIFFERENCE IN THE GAME *** Surf must have not read the injury report. Portis did not play as reported but he left him in his lineup. If he had replaced him with his other RB, he would have won by 2 points.

GAME 5 – Mookies Minions – 57 over TripsRight – 50

Mookie is now the only BFFL undefeated team. My apologies to the mook, as I predicted him to finish dead last. His QB (the other Manning) continues to put up pro bowl numbers. Westbrook also found the end zone again. While Mookie is undefeated, he will need to score more to remain that way. His 57 points would have lost to several teams this week.

Trips needs to see more consistent production out of pro bowl TE Tony Gonzales, as well as QB Steve McNair.

*** DIFFERENCE IN THE GAME *** The Eagles basically layed an egg and allowing Manning to pass for 200+ yards in the 4th quarter and overtime. His performance put Mookie over the top.

GAME 6 – Vegas Hurricanes (Miami Don) - (64) over Hoyazo - (40)

WHAT !!!!!!! HOY, the fantasy football legend (in his own mind), I’ll never lose a game, I drafted the best team, AZO…… LOST A GAME ?????? SAY IT ANT SO !!!!!!!!

The Hurricanes got solid performances from L. Coles and S. Graham. It also appears that he made a great pickup with F. Gore.

Hoy had a rough week as his entire team underachieved. I am sure that he will have his team doing 2-a-days this week in order to get them ready for next week.

*** DIFFERENCE IN THE GAME *** Hoys team could only manage a combined 2 TDs while the Hurricanes defense throwed a shutout on Pittsburgh.

Not much poker latley ...

2006-09-18T07:01:00.000-05:00

I hope to play more in the coming weeks.

I wil post an update for the fantasty football league on Tuesday.

Blogger Fantasy Football - Week 1

2006-09-12T17:25:00.000-05:00

Week 1 in the BFFL is in the books and almost every game came down to the last player. Three games were decided by 3 points or less. The biggest surprise was, preseason favorite, “The Non Blogger” getting beat down by “Floppin Nutz (i.e. 23skidoo)”.

Below is a recap of week 1.

BFFL TEAM OF THE WEEK
Hoyazo – He scored a week one high 67 points, and needed all of them, to hold of a charging General Lee.

THE MOWED DOWN TEAM
The Non Blogger – They scored a record low 29 points.

GAME 1 – The Raven - 65 over Mowenumdown - 59.

This game was a match up of two very even teams, the lead went back and fourth but The Raven held on for a hard fought victory. The Raven got big performances from Tom Brady and Rudi Johnson but the difference in this match up was their defense (Chicago Bears) who scored 19 points.

Mowenumdown had great performances by R. Brown as well as the Pittsburgh D. A lowly four-point output by QB Drew Bledsoe was very costly.

*** Difference in the game – Da Bears D. If they had allowed a minimum of 10 points, The Raven would have lost this game.

GAME 2 – Hometown Hornets – 60 over Waffle House of Pain – 57

Another great game, the Hornets rode a HUGE performance (22 points) by QB Donavan McNabb to secure the victory. It was not all good for the Hornets as LJ had a bad day. I expect him to have a breakout game next week against mowenumdown.

Waffles had big performances from two of his WRs, Burress and Stallworth. Seattles D also played well. Poor performances by QB M. Bulger and R. Smith cost him a shot at the win.

*** Difference in the game – A combination of McNabbs great day for the Hornets and Cadillac’s lack of production for Waffles.

GAME 3 – Floppin Nutz – 39 over The Non Blogger 29

This was a match up of two high draft positions (#1 & #3). You would expect a very high score in this game but they combined for the lowest total of the week. Floppin Nutz pulled the upset by beating the team that had the number 1 draft choice. The Nutz had only one player exceed their projected points, that was T. Ownes. RB L.T. also had a solid day. He has serious issues at QB (1 pt), K (4 pts), TE (0 pts) as well as Def (4 pts)

For TNB, there were two positive players, A. Boldin and N. Rackers. Number 1 pick, S Alexander did not put up a single point.

*** Difference in the game – One word Alexander.

Game 4 – Mookies Minions - 52 over Surflexus Bigcats – 37

Mookie got solid performances from E. Manning, B. Westbrook and J. Brown. To be a factor this year he will need to get more output from his receivers (only 4 points)

Surflexus would have had a good shot to win if C. Palmer would have had a good day, but when you get zero points from your QB, your in trouble.

*** Difference in the game – For Surf, WR Steve Smith was unable to play and Portis was limited to 10 carries. Mix that with Palmers goose egg and he didn’t have a chance.

GAME 5 – TripsRight – 46 over Vegas Hurricanes – 45

In our closest game of the week, it came down to could S. Moss score his projected 6 points in the Monday night game. If he did, Vegas wins. He could only put up 4 points so Trips won by the slimmest of margins. Looking at both lineups, there are several “Ifs”. Trips was able to win even though their QB got knocked out of the game and did not record a single point. They also won despite getting only 3 points from their receivers. I have played fantasy for years and I don’t recall a team ever winning with a combined 3 points from there WRs and QB, but just like that 1 outer that always seems to hit against MiamiDon, it happened.

Vegas had a couple of solid performances. L. Coles, S. Graham, and Jacksonville all had good days. The costly position was RB where he only got 5 total points.

*** Difference in the game – Vegas QB M. Hasselbeck could not lead his team into the end zone. If he has one TD pass, Vegas is a winner.

GAME 6 – Hoyazo – 67 over General Lee – 65

Another great game. This one was also decided on Monday night. Hoyazo had a 4-point lead with no players remaining while GL had Randy Moss (projected to score 9) going on Monday night. Moss could only manage 2 points giving Hoy the tough victory. Hoy got a great performance from the former stock boy K. Warner to lead him to the win.

GL made a game of it with a HUGE 25 point output from the Baltimore D.
P. Manning let him down with only 9 points.

I'm Back !!!

2006-09-04T17:55:00.000-05:00

My beautiful wife and I just returned from a relaxing week on the beach.

Why is it that vacation time seems like warp speed? One minute your dreading the travel time, then the next minute your heading home. Never the less, with this view, it was a great week.

2006-08-21T19:52:00.000-05:00

The BFFL draft is complete and the trash talk is already flowing. Once the season begins, I will do a weekly recap of the action. The participants are:

Waffles
23skidoo
Drewspop
Raveen
Surflexus
Thromdog
Hoyazo
Mookie
Presidentdavelee
MiamiDon
And the only non-blogger, Raveens girlfriend.

After looking at each team, I would seed the league as follows.

1) Drewspop - Larry Johnson is a straight up stud, add Marvin Harrison and D. McNabb and Chris has perhaps the best offense in the league.

2) Hoyazo - Another solid draft. Kurt Warner has more weapons available to him than any other QB. If he stays healthy he will be the steal of the draft.

3) The Non-Blogger - S. Alexander, T. Holt and J. Delhomme anchor a very solid offense.

4) Mowenumdown - R. Wayne, R. Droughns and M. Brunell are solid. Unknown rookie, M Bell can put this team over the top.

5) Raven - T. Brady and R. Johnson will anchor this team. Much of the success will lie in how many carries that McAllister loses to Bush.

6) Presdavelee - This team is the hardest to handicap, they could very well win it all. The only reason that I rank them this low is both backs, D. Foster and J. Lewis, are huge injury risk. And everyone knows you cant win without 2 stud RBs.

7) Waffles - I love D. Davis and C. Williams, if M. Bulger and P. Burress can post big numbers this could be the team to beat.

8) Surflexus - Two slight injury concerns with C. Palmer and C. Portis. If they stey healthy this team will be a contender.

9) MiamiDon - This is one team that I could have missed completely on. L. Jordan should get more carries and McGahee is primed for a huge year.

10) Thromdog - Solid receiving crew but RBs are suspect.

11) 23skidoo - Big concern is at RB, T.Bell has lost his starters role to M.Bell.

12) Mookie - Can T. Barber have another career year? Will B. Westbrook get 20+ carries per game? Can E. Manning improve on his big year last year? To many questions.

These reviews are for entertainment purposes only.

Where's Mow ?

2006-08-18T20:34:00.000-05:00

My father has been in the hospital this week. He lives in Dalton Ga, which is about 2 hours from my home. I have spent most of the week up there with him. He was released yesterday and is back home and feeling much better.

Fantasy Football ... Blogger Style

2006-08-08T19:27:00.000-05:00

We have four spots remaining in what could possibly be the best fantasy football league this year.

Leave me your email if you interested and I will send you the details.

We are putting 10 bucks in a winner take all pot.

10 days until we draft!!!!

No Luck in The Million ...

2006-08-07T18:49:00.000-05:00

I went out fairly early when my AK was beaten by pocket Qs. In true Poker Stars fashion a K comes on the flop, the turn was a blank, then a Q comes on the river.

That's poker!

Great Weekend ...

2006-08-06T12:37:00.000-05:00

I was off Friday so I took advantage of this to play in a golf tournament that my club holds every Friday. I shot an 80 which is one of my best rounds this year, but the 3 birdies and 1 eagle were the highlight of my round. My score was also good enough to win so I pocketed $125 bucks.

Later that evening, I decided to play in a Million qualifier on Stars. I proceeded to win a seat in the Million.

Saturday, the wife and I had blocked off the evening to go out with Surflexus and Miss Surf. For some reason Surf had to cancel so the wife and I took advantage of a Saturday night without the grand daughter and went to dinner and a movie.

We saw Talladega Nights, and if you like Will Farrell, you will love this movie. Being a Southerner, I got a kick out of the redneck comedy. The part where he thinks he's on fire is hilarious. Don't expect much of a plot, but if you want to have a good laugh this is a must see.

When we got home, I logged on to see what was happening on Stars. I found my boy 23skidoo dominating a Million qualifier so I railed him until he had a seat locked up. So he will join me in an attempt to take a share of the big money today.

Today, I decided to try another qualifier to the Million, and I won yet another seat. I already put in a request to sell it so I can have a little more cash in my account.

I hope to cap off this weekend with a win in the Million tonight on Stars.

Step 1 To A Big Payday ...

2006-08-04T20:42:00.000-05:00

I decided to play in the 10+1 rebuy qualifier to the million on Stars. By the skin of my teeth I made it!

22 people advanced and on the last hand I was all in, in the BB. I needed to win the hand or I bubbled. I had the powerful hand of K3 os, as I held my breath a K comes and it held up. I wound up kicking in 50 bucks but I earned a $200 + 15 entry.

I will be playing in the MILLION this Sunday. Wish me luck!!!!

Busy As I Can Be ...

2006-08-03T20:04:00.000-05:00

I have missed the last three blogger events, and I must say that I really miss them. My work week was a rough one as I had to drive through 4 states and over 1200 miles in 2 days. So needless to say, I have been too tired to play. However, work is slowing down so I should be able to make it next week.

Random Thoughts ...

2006-07-29T20:58:00.000-05:00

I had a great Friday/Saturday. Played golf (shot an 83),poker and had some great quality time with my wife.

I played in 2 double shootouts to the million on Stars. I made it through the first table on both, but couldn't close the deal at the second.

If you haven't checked it out, Party is having a "Monster" tournament. Looks like the stakes could be huge.

*******

I would like to thank everyone who takes a moment to look at my blog. I have listed the top 5 referrals for July.

#1 - Mattonpoker
#2 - Dearpokerdiary
#3 - Highonpoker
#4 - Livinglife1dayatatime
#5 - Ccexplore

*******

My Braves appear to be in trouble. The Mets have taken the first two games of the series and they are now 7 out in the wildcard. I am not sure about the trade of Wilson Betimit. He was a solid hitter who played 3 positions well. I hope this does not turn out to be another Jermaine Dye type deal. The Braves decided to trade Jermaine in 1997 to the Royals for Michael Tucker and Keith Lockhart. Lockhart has been out of the league since 2003 and Tucker left the league last year. And if any of you are White Sox fans, you know that Dye was the World Series MVP last season.

Rebuy Madness ...

2006-07-27T13:12:00.001-05:00

Well, if you truly want to be humbled, bring about 30 bucks and play a $5 rebuy tournament. I played in the DADI last night and left more frustrated than ever. I usually do very well in rebuys. I use my typical tight style and wait for premium starting hands then I push, there is usually a player that is willing to gamble and I usually win the hand. Last night was just the opposite. I got my chips in the middle 5 times with the best hand preflop, I lost all 5. I don't remember a streak like that ever. At least I helped out a couple of my buds, Jordan and Brian both doubled from me. But hey that's what makes rebuys fun.

I would like to thanks Jason and Jordan for putting on the DADI. As far as I am concerned, it is the highlight of the blogger tournaments.

You Dont Want to Miss This One ...

2006-07-26T18:06:00.000-05:00

And The Bubble Boy Award Goes To .....

2006-07-25T18:13:00.000-05:00

I played in the Hoy last night. It was a very weird tournament. My stats for the night showed that I was tight, I'm talking GCox tight. The tournament started pretty good for me and I stayed in the top 5 in chips until the final table. I did this by catching good cards when others also caught good cards. Once I hit the final table I went through about a 45 minute period where I folded every single hand.

My final stats were - Flops Seen = 14. 14 ??? That's uber tight!. The funny thing was out of the 14 hands I played I know that I bluffed to win 2 of those pots.

You want another stunning statistic. Until the hand that I was knocked out on, I had won all 13 hands that I had played. 13 hands played, 13 wins. That has never happened to me.

WARNING ***** GROWN MAN CRYING AHEAD ******

Now we come to the hand that knocked me out. Four handed (3 got paid), I was on the short stack. I am FINALLY dealt a hand (A-Q) so I push and MiamiDon pushed over the top, the other two fold. He turns over pocket 7s.

As soon as the cards are shown, Brian (23skidoo) says, "I folded K-7"

The flop comes A x x rainbow. No flush draws, no straight draws, no nothing. The turn is another blank. At this point I am about a 95% favorite. No way he's going to catch the case 7 ..... right ??????

Well we all know that it is not called "RIVER STARS" for nothing because, yes you guessed it, the case 7 comes on the river.

Don has taken some brutal beats lately so he deserved to come out on the good end. Nice hand Don.

I got to say great job by 23skidoo. He was dominate from the start. Good job my friend.

I Joined a New Group ....

2006-07-23T23:33:00.000-05:00

I happened onto a site called The Gamblers Edge. As I was reading the content in the forum, I noticed that they were having a tournament on Stars so I signed up for it. I was a small (14 players/top 3 got paid) but tough field. When we got to three handed I was on the short stack but managed to donk my way to a win.

Early on as I began to amass a pretty decent chip lead, many of the players were saying "we can't let the rookie win". While it was my first tournament with those guys, it felt odd being called a rookie.

I wanted to give a shout out to calliballin (finished 2nd) and simpleandy (finished 3rd) for making me feel welcome.

I also wanted to thank bagz for hosting the event. There were bounties as well as a 2k bad beat jackpot available.

I know that many of you participate in other poker forums, you might want to check this one out.

Another Solid Finish...

2006-07-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

I have been on a pretty solid MTT run lately. In addition to the multis that I posted below, I played in a $20, 180 player sng on Tuesday. I was in very solid position when I took one of those "THIS SITE IS RIGGED" beats and finished in 20th (2 spots out of the money)

I decided to give it another try tonight, and I am happy to report that I finished 3rd. That was good for $428 dollars.

********

PokerStars Tournament #28444153, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $20.00/$2.00
180 players
Total Prize Pool: $3600.00
Tournament started - 2006/07/20 - 17:49:33 (ET)

Dear mowenumdown,
You finished the tournament in 3rd place.
A $428.40 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

********

I would like to thank Brian, Chris and Matt for railing me through. It means a great deal to have the support.

Decent Multi Night ....

2006-07-19T23:39:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty solid run in two multis on Stars (at the same time) last night.

First, I finished 18th in the $10 pot limit Holdem. There were 261 players.

And as I type this, I almost to the 5th hour of the $3 rebuy. We started this one with 1832 players and we are now down to 105. I was around 100k but took a pretty bad beat and now I only have 42k. But I have a chip and a chair so I only need a few good hands to be a factor. I'll update this later.

EDIT - Got knocked out in 96th to a runner runner flush. Cahsed in both though, all in all just a few hands away from a decent payday.

Another Great Show by Mookie ....

2006-07-13T17:55:00.000-05:00

If you don't play in the Mookie, you should have your wireless connection permanently disabled. He runs a great tournament and post one of the best recaps I have seen.

I was looking to continue my hot streak in blogger tournaments and it appeared that I had a good chance of finishing ITM. That was until I made the donkish play of thinking that my AQ was better than CCs mystery re-raise hand. How dare he re-raise me, I'll show him by pushing all my chips in. Wellllllll, that plan didn't work too good when his pocket 7s held up to send me to the rail. He made good use of my chips and finished ITM. Good job CC. Anyway, I finished around 20th.

Monday at the Hoy ....

2006-07-10T23:24:00.000-05:00

I played in the Monday at the Hoy last night. As always in a blogger tournament you really don't know what to expect. The field in each blogger tournament is so strong, that to make the money is a challenge. So to say that I am happy with my win last night is an understatement. I was short stacked for much of the tournament, early on I was 13th of 16. But I caught a few hands at the right time and chipped up slowly. When we were 3 handed I did have a miracle suckout on AJBurns (my pocket 8s beat his pocket Js). But he paid me back a few hands later.

Heads up I was against jeciimd, I don't remember playing against him before but he was very solid. The hand that I took command on was one of those dream flops. I flopped the nutt straight and he had trips. That was really bad timing for him.

This win was especially sweet, I had finished as the runner up in the last two blogger tournaments (The Mookie and The Not). And while second place is nothing to be ashamed of, I began to doubt my heads up play.

Thanks again to Hoyazo for hosting the event.

Anna Kournikova ....

2006-07-09T11:36:00.000-05:00

How many times have you looked at your cards only to see this beautiful hand looking back at you? Numerically, it's one of the best hands in poker. The odds of catching A K suited is 331 to 1, for A K off suit it's 110 to 1. The odds of catching pocket Aces is 220 to 1.

My question is why does a hand that is so rare, break so many hearts?

The answer may lie in the way that we play it.

Each person has their way of playing BS. I have to admit at times, I have fallen deep in love with Big Slick. Should you push? Should you make the standard 3x the BB raise? Should you raise 5 or 6x the BB to knock out all limpers?

I don't fault any of the above plays, but my philosophy has changed about the way that I look at BS. Below is the way that I typically play BIG SLICK in multis.

*** Short stacked (anything 30% below the average chip stack)

I push in any position. No questions asked. At this point the blinds are eating away at your stack and there are only 2 hands that dominate you.

*** Mid stack (anything around the average, I can cover more than 2/3 of my table)

This decision requires more thought. If I'm in the EP, I want to weed out any and all limpers. Based on the play of my table I might just make a raise a 3x the BB to get a feel for what type hands are out there. If I have a tight table I might try to take it down without a flop by making a larger raise. My motto has always been "I would rather win a small pot than to lose a large one". If I have any callers and miss the flop I have to rely on instinct and table history. But I have to keep in mind that my opponent had something that he felt good enough to risk more of his chips on and at this time I have Ace high.

In the LP of a raised pot, PROCEED WITH CAUTION! This is where the love of Big Slick can make you lose sleep. I will usually just call at a full table. You have to give your opponent credit for a hand. Even if it's a pair of 2s, he's going to beat you almost 60% of the time.

In the LP with 2 callers or less, I want to build this pot. I will raise this pot 3x the BB. I love it when the SB thinks that you are trying to steal and reraises you. When this happens, I almost always push.

*** Large stack (you are the big guy at your table)

The best position to be in, you can use your chip advantage to push people around. I will usually reraise any preflop raise. My goal is to put them all in. A high percentage of the time they are pushing with any Ace and as you know, Ax is dominated by Big Slick.

The key thing in each of these scenieros is to remeber that AK is not an unbeatable hand. If the flop doesnt hit you don't be afraid to fold and live to battle another day. Ace high is not going to win alot of pots.

Fun Night of Poker ...

2006-07-07T15:37:00.000-05:00

As I have had time to reflect my runner up finish in last nights "The Not" blogger tournament hosted by darval, I must say that if I had to finish second, I'm glad that it was to Mookie. He played great and battled his way back from (if I remember correctly) approx. 600 chips when we were 6 handed.

When we were 3 handed, it appeard that Hacker and I might have a rematch from our heads up battle in this weeks Mookie. Mookie began the 3 handed session with a big chip disatvantage but won a couple of pivotal pots to chip up. Soon after, Mookie took hacker out to set up our heads up battle. For heads up, it was a marathon (I think we played close to 20 hands). The final hand went just as I planned (except for the result).

Mookie had me covered by about 3k and was consistently raising my SB if I limped. I am dealt A,Q. No doubt that I want all my chips in the middle here but I want more than his blind. I smooth call, with the hope that he will continue to come over the top. He does, he raises 3600, I push, he calls. He turns over K8 os. At this point I am in pretty good position but since this is the last hand, you know the rest of the story. I made both the right read and the right play. There is nothing more that I could do.

But I will say this, we all served out time in the "bad beat seat". I laid two brutal beats on Mookie. There was a streak of 5 hands where the pre-flop favorite only held up once.

I, like most players, will sometimes steam when I go through a bad beat. But I will contend that it is nearly impossible to money in a large event without winning at least one (or more) hand(s) that you shouldn't have. So you just have to roll with the punches.

Congrats Mookie, my hats off to you.

Thanks to Mookie ....

2006-07-06T11:36:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take a moment and thank Mookie for hosting his weekly tournament. Not because I managed to place second last night, but because I know the time it takes to do an event like he does.

I don't recall much about my play. There are only two hands that I recall, one was where I held pocket 5s and the flop comes x 5 5. Once I showed my quads, the DQB chant began at our table.

The other hand was bad timing on my part, the second hand of heads up we were basically even in chips, I decided to play the hammer hard. I hadn't played it all night, why the urge came over me I will never know, but I lost about 2/3 of my chips before I turned it lose.

During the Mookie, I was also playing the $3 rebuy. I managed a 130th place finish out of 2300. I got 8x my buy in so not bad. I was up to 90k in chips and was dealt AK, of course I raise (I think it was 4x the BB ($12k)). The BB comes over the top and to call I would be all in. There are only 2 hands that I am a huge dog AA and KK. This is the best hand that I have seen in over 45 mins, so thinking that I am a coin flip at worse I call and of course he has Aces. Looking back now it was a horrible call, but we all have our donkish moments.

The Tide is Turning .....

2006-07-01T21:36:00.000-05:00

My return to the virtual felt has been some what painful, or maybe bitter sweet is the better adjective to describe it. The first night back couldn't have started any better, I won a 45 player SNG to pad my diminished bank roll. I followed that up with 2 more solid finishes in 45 player SNGs (2nd and 6th).

But then came the WWdn. I struggled early and was below average for much of the first hour and a half. I finally caught a few nice winners and chipped up to 5K. The last hand for me was Big Slick, It went like most, I raise 3x the BB then the chip leader comes over the top and I'm all in. To my surprise he turns over 10 Q os. We were down to 10 players (9 got paid) so I think he thought that I would fold my hand in order to make the money. I was elated, that was until he caught a Q on the river.

Fast forward to the DADI. Once again, I battled the first hour to keep my head above water, caught a few nice hands and had my sights set on making the money. I was up to 5k in chips and the same thing as above happened. AK loses to Q 10 os again !!!!

The good news is, I think that the tide has turned, I had a very good day today (up $150+).

The thing that I take from this is that we all serve our time in the bad beat seat. As long as we play this wonderful game, IT IS going to happen. This is the only game that I know that you can do everything right and still lose. So for those of you going through a streak like I have been in, keep plugging.

Fantasy Football ... Blogger Style

2006-06-27T18:42:00.000-05:00

I have set up a league for us on Yahoo. So far, we have 8 bloggers who want to play. It is a 12 team league, so I have room for 4 more. The details are below.

Draft Date = Sunday 08/20 at 7:00 est.
12 team head to head.
$10 per team (you can transfer it to me once we get the league full)
Winner take all.

The people who are in so far:

Drewspop
Surflexus
Raveen
Hoyazo
Mow
Pauly
Miami Don
Mookie

If you are interested, leave me a message with your email.

Thanks

Yes, I am a bit proud ....

2006-06-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

There was nothing that could prepare me for the joy that my grand-daughter has brought to my wife and I. She is almost 6 months old now and already has me wrapped.

Fantasy Football ... Blogger Style

2006-06-21T20:26:00.000-05:00

I wanted to see who would be interested in participating in a Fantasy Football league.

I will set up everything and we can discuss how much money we want to play for.

If your interested, leave a post with your email and I will send you the details.

Fathers Day

2006-06-19T19:08:00.000-05:00

First off, a belated Happy Fathers day to all the poker playing dads out there. I hope you had as good o a day as I did.

I had something happen that has never happened before. My son, who turned 20 in May, bought me a fathers day present all on his own. I am divorced from his mother and in the past she would not assist him (or allow him) when he wanted to get me something.

The day was set up to be a great one without the gift. He lives about 2 hours away from me but he drove down and spent the night at my house. The next morning, we awoke very early to play in a father/son golf tournament. Just before we left the house for the course, he said "Happy Fathers Day" and handed me a new tie. I have ties from all over the world, but trust me, I now have a new "favorite tie". I know, your thinking that I have lost it, but the fact that he thought of me made my day.

After my son left for his home I began to think ... do I do and say those things enough to show my dad how much I love and appreciate him? So while my dad will probably never read this I wanted to share a few thoughts about the single biggest influence in my life and the one who made me ... me. My dad.

My father is a miracle in may ways. He was born with cerebral palsy, so sever was the palsy that the doctor said that he would not be able to walk. At a young age he was fitted for leg braces that permitted him to walk but the children at his school made fun of him so he was determined to walk without them. He worked and worked until the braces were no longer needed.

The palsy affected his body in ways that most of us can not comprehend. It almost destroyed his right side. His right hand is crippled so he has limited use of it and it also weakened his right leg so he walks with a limp.

Those are the things that a person who walks by him would notice. But once you get to know him, he is truly amazing. Below are a few things that I admire.

** He is 63 years old and has worked with the same company for 44 years, and to my knowledge, has never used a sick day.

** While he could easily apply for and receive disability (he has glaucoma as well as the palsy), he doesn't see his self as "disabled". This is refreshing to see in this day and age when you have people on disability playing golf every week.

** When he goes shopping, he parks as far away from the handicap parking as he can. He said he wants to save those spaces for someone who needs it. (Even though I had to take him to the emergency room a few months ago. The palsy causes him sever pain in his right ankle).

** I can honestly say, that I have never seen him mad or say a cross word to anyone.

The thing that I admire most was the fact that when he and my mother divorced (I was 6) he raised me by his self. And even though my mother didn't have much to do with me, I never felt like I was missing anything. He wouldn't allow that to happen.

Happy Fathers day Dad!

Thanks to BrianMc

2006-06-19T19:02:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Brian for hosting a home game for a motley crew of Atlanta bloggers. The players were Brian, Surflexus, 23Skidoo, Rags and myself. We played a couple of games and as you know, each of the players listed is an experienced player so needless to say, we had a blast.

Play against the best. Sign up today.

2006-06-14T19:34:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 8812105

Back In The Saddle !!!

2006-06-12T20:24:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I have been taking a break away from the virtual felt while I enjoyed my time off of work. I am back to my regular work life of driving from city to city and playing poker all night in my hotel room. I should begin posting my deep (yeah right) poker content on a more regular basis.

While I have not played regularly, I have continued to read many of your blogs. I am impressed with many of the new guys (and gals) as well as the old guards. I hate that I missed okie-vegas but I will make the next one.

------- POKER UPDATE -------

Tonight, I christened my Cullman Alabama hotel room with a win in a $11 turbo 45 player NLH! A nice + $143 addition to my bankroll.

Also, as I am writing this post, I am into the second hour of a $10+1 NLH multi. It started with 1,325, we are down to 245 players and I am currently the chip leader.

Maybe I can win more money to donk off to you guys !!!

--- EDIT ---

I got knocked out in 39th with KQ suited. Was getting blinded to death and decided to push and lost to A-6 os. OUCH!

I'm still alive ...

2006-04-14T18:47:00.000-05:00

For the last week, the weather has been absolutely beautiful. I have taken advantage of it and completed most of my spring landscaping task at The Joyce Manor. I have also played 162 holes of golf over the last 7 days.

LIFE IS GOOD !!!!

On a poker note, things are going great as well. When I started my break (which is not really a break, just a reduction in my play time), I withdrew all of my bankroll except for 50 bucks on Party. Playing exclusively on 6 player, $1/$2 NL Holdem tables, I have turned that $50 into $421 in a little over a week. I am playing, what I call, power sessions. I sit at a table with the minimum $40 and I don't leave the table till I either double up or lose it all

I miss the camaraderie of the blogger community so I will try to make the blogger tournaments in the future. I will also be on yahoo IM.

Break Time For Me ...

2006-04-10T19:09:00.000-05:00

As the temperature rises, my time on the computer goes way down. I will still read and post to my blog, but I will not be playing a lot. I go back on the road with my job in June and that's when I will begin playing regularly again. It's too bad because I have been on quiet a roll but I have rental property as well as my own home to take care of as well as a lot of golf balls to lose.

May all you sessions be winning sessions!

Kelly

Cash Game Strategy ...

2006-04-06T21:12:00.000-05:00

I posted last week that I am through with NL cash games, and I am happy to say that my success in the NL cash games continue. I won about 400 bucks tonight playing 1/2 NL cash, using basically my same style that I use for NL tournament play.

I think Doyle Brunson said it best when describing what you need to do to be successful at NL, he said that you have to have a total disregard for money.

I agree totally. I had a hand that really took me to the test tonight. I was on a great run and had taken my initial $40 to over $160. The hand is below:

I am dealt pocket Ks, I make a raise or $20
The guy behind me raises $200.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm, he could have pocket Aces, heck he could even have Ax and catch an A on the board.

If I thought of the money, I would probably fold this hand and keep my winnings. But in a Holdem tournament, would you ever fold pocket Ks preflop? Of course not, well the end of the story was he had p 10s, I went on to win the $365 pot.

Why ME ?????????????????????

2006-04-06T00:13:00.000-05:00

Man I have taken some rough ones lately. It has been over 6 months since I hit a payday that included a comma. Thus today's sad sad song. I played in my 2nd $17K Guaranteed tournament on Full Tilt. In this one there were 851 players, the final 6 all get over a grand. I sail through to the money and catch cards at the right time and before I know it I am over 30K with only 42 players left. To my delight, I look down and see rockets. I raise 3x the bb (bb was 1,200) and the only caller was the guy on the BB. The flop comes 10,3,7 rainbow. He pushes so I go over the top and I am all in ready to join the chip leaders. He turns over Q,3 os ????? HE'S JUST PUSHED ALL IN WITH A PAIR OF 3s ???????

The turn is a blank, and yes you guessed it, he hits a 3 on the river.

I did get almost 70 bucks but sometimes I have to ask, WHY ME ????? Once again, every hand that I won I was the favorite going in, no suckouts, just good solid poker. Why do idiots that push all in with a pair of 3s get rewarded ???

Bracket Results

2006-04-04T17:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all who played.

Congratulations to I Pwn You Jopkers for winning. He receives $70 bucks that he can now donk off on the poker tables. On the bubble was Gary.

The results were as follows:

1) I Pwn You Jopkers - 69
2) original - 61
3) Mowenumdown - 57
4) Surflexus - 55
5) Tripjax - 52
6) HighOnPoker - 49
7) Drewspop - 46

Thanks again to all who participated!

New Strategy ...

2006-04-03T16:15:00.000-05:00

My bank roll has grown at a steady pace, but not at the rate that I would prefer. My typical pattern has been, enter a 10 SNG, place in the money, donk off said winnings playing 2/4 limit.

With my NL tournament game going very solid, I decided to try something different. Last week I decided to forget about the 2/4 limit and enter the world 2/4 No Limit. This game is played much closer to those in SNGs. Limit seems to attract every fish who does not know how to press the fold button and seems to suck out with regularity.

So I sat down and started with $90 for my first 2/4 No Limit action, within 8 hands I was over $150. After about 35 mins I had doubled my money and had to take my wife to eat. The next day, I started with $80 and within 30 mins, i was over $150 again. I know that even the best players have losing sessions so mine is coming.

I have seen my last limit ring action!

Brush With Fame ...

2006-03-30T15:35:00.000-06:00

In my last job, I was a District Manager for a major retailer. In that job I regularly hosted meetings and as an ice breaker at introductions, I would have them tell something unique about themselves. One of the things that I would have them do is to tell the group, their "Brush With Fame" This could be any "famous" person that they have met, known etc. I thought this would be a good topic to throw out there to the poker blogland. I would like each of you to give me, your brush with fame.

I have had several, but the famous person that I know best is from the reality TV world. As I have shared with you, I play golf every Saturday. One of the guys in my regular golf group is Brian Heidik, if your like me your saying, whose that??? Trust me, I was the same way until I met him. I don't watch a lot of reality TV. Anyway, Brian was the winner of Survivor Thailand #5 (and no, hes not the gay guy, that was the first one). He is the only one, of all the Survivor series, to never have a vote cast against him. OLN was rerunning all of the Survivor series back in December and I have to admit, it was pretty cool watching a guy that I ride in a golf cart with on TV.

So, let's here your brush with fame!

Therapeutic Rant ...

2006-03-30T10:57:00.000-06:00

I am not one who usually rants about losing. I mean all good (and bad) players have lost on hands where they were huge favorites going in. But I have taken an, let's call them, untimely beat in the last two big tournaments that I have participated in.

First on Tuesday night I got in the guaranteed 17k on Full Tilt. The payouts were very very nice with the top 5 getting over a grand and over 4k to the winner. I maintained a solid stack throughout and with 36 players remaining I was 14th (I had 26k). The first hand after the break a guy in the EP pushed all in with 21k, as you know this is a common practice for a moderate hand who wants to steal the blinds. I had a very callable hand (AQ) so I was faced with the decision, either I will be top 3 in chips if I win, or I will be crippled if I lose. I called and figured he had a mid pp, but to my surprise, he flipped over KQ of diams. WOW, not only am I ahead, I have his Q counterfeited. All I have to worry about is a King, right???? I'm counting my chips and on the way to a big payday, that was until the flop came diam,diam,diam. Very anticlimactic, but never the less hard to swallow.

Part II. Mookie had his tournament last night and if you have never played in it you should check out his blog and get in the next one. Anyway, I was coasting along and from the start was top 3 in chips, to tell you the truth, I don't remember losing a pot that I got involved in for the first 45 mins or so. I got moved to the TV table with Tripjax, Katitude, Waffle etc. With 10 players remaining, I was 3rd in chips when the faithful hand occurred. To my delight, I looked at my screen and saw pocket rockets, immediately my mind thinks, slow play or press. I decide against the outright slow play and raise 4x the big blind (raised to 800) everyone folds except for Kat who just calls. The flop comes 10,A,J rainbow JACKPOT! In my mind there were only 4 hands that she would have called 4x the BB, AK, KK, QQ, JJ. Each of which, I had dominated. I place a big bet she raises me all in and I call. I'm expecting her to turn over p Js giving her a set of Js. to my surprise she turns over KQ. Nutt straight, thank you for playing, here's your toaster, don't call us well call you.

As I say, I am not going to call them bad beats, just untimely. As bad as we hate to admit it, luck has a huge part in this crazy game. The following factors have absolutely nothing to do with skill.

1) I was dealt rockets (happens only 1 in 220 hands)
2) Kat was dealt KQ (happens only 1 in 110 hands)
3) Kat had me covered.

I will end this rant with a question, could anyone have folded the hand that I lost to Kat with (trip aces to a rainbow flop)?

Want a chance to play with the pros ???

2006-03-29T18:51:00.000-06:00

If you have an account on Full Tilt you can get your chance. The Bustout Bounty Bonanza has at least 4 professionals in it. Last week it was Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch and another guy that I hadn't heard of. If you bust out a pro you get a bounty of at least 50 bucks, bust out the selected pro and receive 100. The buy in is 50+5. The tournament is on Saturday April 1st at 9:00 P.M. est on Full Tilt.

I played in the last one and made the money, as a mater of fact I outlasted all the pros except for Ferguson.

Good Luck

Silver Anniversary ....

2006-03-28T13:06:00.000-06:00

You may have read on Surflexus blog that he and I are soon going to join forces on a power blog. This joint venture started me thinking on just how far that he and I go back. So here is a walk through time ....

First off, you know him as George, I know him as Ernie. You probably don't know, but, he is a Jr. and to me his dad will always be George. So if you hear me call him Ernie you will now know why.

To my best recollection our friendship began forming in 1981, We were both Juniors in high school and I don't know all the details but if I remember correctly, he transferred from Northwest High to Southeast High (where I attended). I had heard of him before because we were both video game junkies.

In that day, the Atari pong games were all you could get at home so game rooms were the rage. There were two game rooms in Dalton Ga., one on the North end of town and another on the South end. I was the king on the South and he ruled the North.

He and I came up with an ideal of forming video game teams at each game room and have a challenge to see who had the best players. We did, and I don't even remember who won, but from that moment on we were the best of friends.

So before we became poker junkies we were both above average video gamers. Back in the day we both held World Records on video games (yes I did say WORLD RECORDS. He once played Star castle for days to set his and I played Q'bert for days to set mine. If the game had a pattern, we would figure it out. We both had numerous media opps with the local media covering our feats. Seventeen years old, local media covering my World Record, man, was that great for my love life!

We would go onto win thousands of dollars in video game contest from Atlanta to Chattanooga, and to have that kind of money as a 17/18 year old was pretty cool. Being from Dalton Georgia, when we would walk into a game room in another town, they would say, "Here's the Dalton gang".

I'll end with a funny story, we were going to Chattanooga for a TRON contest (remember that great movie?) We took a wrong turn and wound up in a very rough part of town, then to top it off the car broke down. I don't remember how we got home but we made it.

Happy 25th anniversary of our friendship E

Another Solid Day ...

2006-03-28T10:36:00.000-06:00

With the day off from work I got in a little extra playing yesterday. And in an ironic twist of fate, even though I lost in the first round of the Heads Up Challenge, I have made over 300 bucks this week because of getting in it. How could I do this you ask. Well I had never played on Full Tilt until the HUC, I plunked down 50 bucks to have enough to play the HUC. After getting knocked out I decided to play a few torunies and my bank roll on FT began to grow.

Yesterday I played in 3 multis on FT and cashed in all 3, the highlight was a 4th place finish out of 101 players. I also entered a qualifier to the 40K and I won it giving me the 100+10 buy in for only 10+1.

All was not well as I jumped in a couple of SNGs on Stars with George, Gary, & Jordan and got knocked out pretty early in both. Congrats to Gary for taking 3rd in one of those.

Bustout Bounty Bonanza

2006-03-25T21:07:00.000-06:00

Surf and I decided to enter a 50+5 on Full Tilt. There are 4 pros participating.

Chris Ferguson
Howard Lederer
Andy Bloch
Steve Zolotow

Both Surf and I have made it to the first break in pretty decent shape. I have 5k and he has 3k. No pro action for either of us yet but they cant run from us all night (hehe).

Ill update later.

**

Second Break

Good news and bad news, the bad news is Surf took a tough beat with big slick and got knocked out.

The good news is I have over 10k (41st) and a pretty solid game going. Play is very loose so I am playing uber tight right now. I folded p 2s,3s,6s and 9s pre-flop during that hour. I could kick myself on the 2s as I would have flopped a set of deuces but oh well.

I have only seen 11% of the flops, but I have won 90% of those hands.

Went from 250 players to 94 during that hour. The money begins at 63 so I expect play to get much tighter this hour.

Only one pro left and that is Chris Ferguson. I have not had any pro-action yet. I'll give another update later.

**

Well I'm out in 60th, won $76 bucks. Lost about 1/3 of my stack early in the hour with AJ and went card dead after. Caught a piece of the flop when I was on the BB pushed and it was over. Ferguson is still in but I never got the chance to play with him.

It was fun, I'll definitely do it again.

Thanks to Garth and Surf for railing, it always helps to have a fellow blogger pulling for you.

HUC

2006-03-24T20:40:00.000-06:00

Thanks again to V for hosting the event. I was in in long enough to have a very small cup of coffee. My match was against Willwonka and it was a back and forth match for a while at one point he had me down to about 500 chips, I hit two all ins in a row to cut him down to 600. We went all in again and I was licking my chops as he was down to an 6% chance of winning and then bang, the 6% comes through. After that he took control and never looked back. He then went on to beat his next opponent to secure our bracket.

Good luck in the next round Willwonka!

Two at a time ....

2006-03-22T15:01:00.000-06:00

It was, like Yogi Berra once said, deja-vu all over again. Just like the last WWdn event, in which I had forgotten about it and was saved by a last second i.m. from Chris (i.e. Drewspop), Jordan (i.e. HighonPoker) saved me this week with yet another last second i.m. informing me that the tournament was starting in 60 seconds. I wanted to see if I could make two straight final tables in the star studded WWdn field (finished 2nd in the last one).

I began using my usual tight style, that was till hand number 12. I had K,10 and it was only 20 to call so it was a no brainier. The flop (which 5 people saw) was a dream flop for me 10-10-4. I automatically go into trap mode checking my set of 10s. Psycoma was the next to bet and bet 120 causing everyone else to fold, I just call. I check next, then come over the top with a reraise and we were all in. The turn and river were useless to both of us and she turned over pocket aces. OUCH!

I picked up a few more pots but the next big event for me was in the second hour when I was short stacked and pushed in with A,9 suited. My friend waffle called with A,J. I caught a 9 and I am sure caused waffle to kick his dog or something like that. Anyway, he actually called me a donkey (hey, I resemble that remark). But waffle would get the last laugh busting me out in 12th.

Congrats to David on the win! Great job!

During the WWdn I was also in a 10+1 multi on Party with 999 participants. I managed to dodge the bullets and finished 12th. Pretty nice payday, but I wanted that final table. Thanks to Jordan, Jason, Chris and George for railing and encouraging me.

Bracket Challenge Update

2006-03-19T20:34:00.000-06:00

The field has been narrowed from 64 down to 16. The scores are very close but some brackets are damaged pretty badly.

The scores are as follows:

mowenumdown - 45
I Pwn You - 45
Original DD - 45
Surflexus - 43
Drewspop - 42
Highonpoker - 41
Tripjax - 36

Looking at the brackets, 3 players have their final 4 intact. I Pwn You, Original DD and Drewspop.

I lost Pitt, Surf lost North Carolina (who was also picked for the finals)and Trip lost Ohio St.

By far the most damaged bracket belongs to Highonpoker. He lost two of his final 4 teams as well as the team that he picked to win it all.

The max possible points for everyone is as follows:

Original DD - 169
I Pwn You - 165
Drewspop - 162
mowenumdown - 153
Tripjax - 148
Surflexus - 139
Highonpoker - 89

Coming back down ....

2006-03-18T18:34:00.000-06:00

Well I seem to be back to earth today. Played in two more 45 player and got 39th in one and 9th in the other.

A week to remember ....

2006-03-17T22:12:00.000-06:00

I have had quite a week, highlighted by my second place finish in the WWdn.

**************************************************************************

PokerStars Tournament #20939391, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
77 players
Total Prize Pool: $770.00
Tournament started - 2006/03/14 - 20:30:00 (ET)

Dear mowenumdown,

You finished the tournament in 2nd place.
A $154.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

********************************************************************

It is weeks like this that keep me coming back to the poker table. As you know, you have to have a very short memory of the bad weeks and try to suck every think that you can out of the good ones. My only regret is that I was not able to get in the 45 player SNG Challenge that Jordan and Jason are hosting, however I am tracking my points as if I were and the results are below.

Before I go into that, let me give a shout out to Chris "i.e. Drewspop" who is running away with the real SNGC. Very nice playing my friend.

I guess I am left to try to become the sudo SNGC winner. Its kinda like the back seat driver or the Monday morning quarterback.

My results for the week are below.

---------------------------------------------------------------

PokerStars Tournament #21496370, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
45 players
Dear mowenumdown,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place.
A $74.25 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

---------------------------------------------------------------

PokerStars Tournament #21444824, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
45 players
Dear mowenumdown,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place.
A $74.25 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

--------------------------------------------------------------

PokerStars Tournament #21335821, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
45 players
Dear mowenumdown,

You finished the tournament in 2nd place.
A $96.75 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

--------------------------------------------------------------

PokerStars Tournament #21328503, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
45 players
Dear mowenumdown,

You finished the tournament in 7th place.
A $15.75 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I played in 3 that I didn't place in so through 7 attempts I would have a 2nd, two 3rds and one 7th. That would give me 23 points.

I am sure that the next SNGC (that I will be in), my results will not be this good.

However the week was not all rosey, I managed to lose about $75 bucks playing 2/4 limit.

Get your share of 25k !!!

2006-03-15T19:39:00.000-06:00

I am registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Freeroll
Win your share of $25,000 and a set
of Nevada Jacks poker chips.
Hosted By: Absolute Poker
Sponsored By: Poker Source Online
Registration Code: 65842993

NCAA Bracket Update ...

2006-03-15T17:26:00.000-06:00

Thus far, the following are signed up:

mowenumdown
HighOnPoker
TripJax
Drewspop's Eagles
I Pwn You Jopkes

The deadline is fast approaching .....

I don't want to stop ...

2006-03-14T23:04:00.000-06:00

Do you believe in a poker "zone". If there is such a thing, I was in it on Tuesday night. I started by playing a 45 player SNG in which I finished a modest 6th, but hey, I more than doubled my money. Then Chris (Drewspop) logged on and reminded me of the WWDN. I decided that I would try it. There was 77 entrants and when the tourney started, I was getting the cards at the right time. I won with the hammer 3 times in the first hour (and of course showed it each time). I used my normal tight play for about an hour after that. There were two hands that shaped the tournament for me. First was a classic meeting of mammoth hands. I had rockets and had a good feel about slow playing them. I made a small raise and the only caller was Matt. Just like you hope for and Ace comes on the flop and it was a rainbow. I check, Matt checks. A 5 comes on the turn, I bet, Matt raises, I push all in and he calls. Turns out that 5 gave him a set of 5s. That was just bad luck on his part to be going up against a set of aces. The next hand was about 45 minutes later. It was against cfinnn, he had A10 and raised, I pushed all in with big slick. He called and BS held up. That put my stack over 20k.

To make a short story long, I finished in 2nd place and picked up $154.

Here's the best part, during the WWDN, Jordan and Drewspop wanted to get in a 45 player. I decided to get in with them and I got second in that one as well. That is the first time that I remember being on two final tables at the same time.

My donk roll now has a pulse. Thanks to Tripjax, Highonpokr, GCox and Drewspop for cheering me on.

Get your MARCH MADNESS ON !!!!!

2006-03-13T19:53:00.000-06:00

The best NCAA Bracket Challenge is here!!!!!

Think us poker players ONLY know poker???

I have set up a private league for poker bloggers only. The information is below:

Go to - http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men

Group ID is - "90867"

Group Name is - "Poker Bloggers"

password is - "hammer"

There is a $10.00 entry fee with the winner taking all. You can transfer your funds to Jason "tripjax" or myself "mowenumdown". Just reply to this message and let me know that your in.

The deadline is Thursday by 12:10 EST.

True Story ....

2006-03-08T22:25:00.000-06:00

Before I share a funny true story I would like to thank all the bloggers who cheered me on in my 20 table multi. I finished 5th winning $230 bucks.

The following is a true story.

It is common knowledge that cops love to sit and watch parking lots of bars at or around closing time. At one such bar in Georgia, the police had busted a drunk driver for four consecutive weekends. The next Saturday night the police took their normal position waiting to arrest another drunk driver. The spot that they sat gave them a great view of the entire parking lot. To no ones suprise, at about 15 minutes till closing time a guy stumbles out of the bar, tries to unlock four different cars before finally finding his own, after falling down, manages to get his door unlocked and fall in his car. After a few more minutes, he cranks the car, turns on his windshield wipers (on a perfectly clear night), pulls the car up about 5 feet and then puts it in reverse and backs up to the original spot. This has went on for a good 15 minutes and the bar is closing so many of the people were beginning to leave. Finally the man manages to pull out and get on the highway, on cue the cops get behind him and blue light him. He drives a few miles and pulls over. The police gave him a breath test and to there amazement, it shows that he's sober. One of the cops tells the him that the machine must be broken and that they were going take him to the police station so they could do a blood sample. The man looks at the cops and says, sir there is nothing wrong with your machine. The cops says what do you mean, the man replies, I'm the Designated Decoy.

Something to try .....

2006-03-05T14:11:00.000-06:00

If you get bored, I have a strange, some might say demented, thing that I like to do to help my poker instincts. Let me first say that I don't recommend doing this on large limit tables (after you read this you will see why)

I like to get on a .25/.50 NL table and, after I have been there enough hands to get a feel for the table, I put a post it note on my screen so that I can't see the flop cards. I place my first bet strictly off of my hole cards as well as my read of the players.

Fun Night

2006-03-05T11:26:00.000-06:00

I had a blast playing with all of the bloggers last night.

Surflexus
GCox25
Soxlover
Weak_Player
HighOnPoker
Kaellinn18

(Hope I didnt leave anyone out)

I wound up bubbling out in the multi that we got into, but congratulations to GCox and Weak for cashing.

All in all I made about 40 bucks, but even if I had lost money, I had a blast. If you guys ever have a chat open please invite me.

Lessons Learned

2006-03-03T15:02:00.000-06:00

Over the last 6 months, I have been teaching a friend of mine the basics of how to win money at holdem. I have been impressed to see him go from losing $100 bucks per week to now having winning sessions. He had two major flaws to his game that I will address below.

First, he saw too many flops. His game of choice is $2/4 limit holdem. Seeing too many flops in this game will guarantee you a run of losing sessions. Most winning limit players see between 15 and 25% flops, when I'm at my best, I see about 22% of the flops and win 55%+ of those hands. He was seeing 35 to 45%. I have listed the basic math below.

I see 20% of flops (80 hands per hour = $20 to see those flops)
He was seeing 40% (80 hands per hour = $36 to see those flops)

So as you can see, in a 2 hour session he was losing at least $32 in hands he should not even be involved in. Not to mention, the marginal hands that he would catch a piece of the flop only to be out kicked in the end. The next thing was to define "marginal hands" He (like many fishes) would basically play an ace with anything. He would also call raised pots with small pairs (pockets 8s and less). With a mid/small pocket pair you only have three scenarios that will make a winner.

1 - Hit the set (very low odds)
2 - Hit a flush or straight (even lower odds)
3 - Bluff everyone out (very costly move)

In all three of those situations, you are a longshot to win so fold and get it over with. It never ceases to amaze me when I see someone call an all in with pocket 8s, but I love folks like that (hehe).

He also felt obligated to call a raised pot when he was in the blind. HUGE mistake, unless you have a hand that you would have raised with, you are throwing away money to call a preflop raise. Just humbly kiss that blind good bye and get em next hand.

His other mistake was that he never altered his style. He generally plays very tight which can become very predictable. I taught him that to lose a pot is not always a bad thing. As long as you are trying to get caught bluffing. I have taken down some big pots right after a well timed bluff that went bad.

If you are on a losing skid, see less flops and alter your style.

Sit and Go's

2006-03-01T21:05:00.000-06:00

I have read several of your post about the ease of making money with the new chip structure on the multis on Party Poker. I have to say that I agree. I haven't been able to play much over the last 3 weeks but I sat down tonight and played 3 of the $20 two table NLH tournies. My results were very solid. A 2nd ($120 winner), a 3rd ($80 winner) and I bubbled out in 5th in the other. The additional chips allow you to bully early and hammer players with big hands later.

With this new format I will be playing much more two table tournies.

*** 03/02 UPDATE - Another 2nd place $120 $$$ ***
*** 03/02 UPDATE - Jumped into a $20, 3 table and finished 5th for another $90 ***

Kelly

Qualifiers

2006-03-01T16:49:00.000-06:00

I may have the wrong outlook on this but I really don't like to play in qualifiers. There are tons of them out there but I think that in the long run the good players get shorted by playing in these.

Example - There is a 10+1 qualifier for the 500K on Party Poker. I watched a little of one today that had 110 participants. The top 4 players receive the $200+15 entry fee, thus my problem. With the normal multi payout structure, if you placed first with 110 participants, you would win $297. That's an $82 raise from the $200+15 entry fee you are given.

It may just be me, but I would rather win the cash in a normal multi and pay my way into the tourney.

Kelly

Sorry for the down time ....

2006-03-01T12:50:00.000-06:00

I started a new job in January and have been on the go for the last few weeks. I hope that things have settled down and will allow me to post more often. On a good note I finished 2nd in a 7 CS multi last week, won 400+.

K

DADI

2006-01-12T08:16:00.000-06:00

Well as usual, it was a blast. Thanks to Jordon and Trip for putting this thing on.
I stayed around the chip lead for much of the tournament but one misstep cost me a chance at the money. I had played the entire tournament with one thing in mind, my starting hand had to have both a good hi hand draw as well as a good low hand draw, my focus was to only play pots that I could scoop.

I maintained that until the faithful hand that sent me packing. I was in the BB when I was dealt Kh,7h,7c,8c. No low draw so I would have folded this hand usually, but being in the big blind, with a pair, double suited, possible straight flush draw mmmmmmm and what else. Well anyway you know I played the hand or I would not be crying like this in public. In classic fashion there are two hearts on the flop, a small bet is made, I make my flush on the turn, I bet, he bets and Im all in. He turns over not only the nutt flush but the nutt low with the A2 of hearts.

What this taught me is to not change my strategy because I am in the BB, in any other position I would have folded that hand and more than likely made the money.
All it takes is one misstep when you are walking through a mine field and you go BOOM!

Kelly

DADI Tonight

2006-01-11T15:20:00.000-06:00

Jordan and TripJax are hosting the next Donkeys Always Draw Invitational, and this time it's going to be an Omaha 8 Hi/Lo game.

WHERE: PokerStars
WHEN: January 11th, 9PM EST
BUY-IN: $10+$1
PASSWORD: blogsaregay

See you there.
Kelly

Multi Table Strategy

2006-01-08T17:10:00.000-06:00

When I play in multi table tournaments with large fields, I have a problem keeping my focus for the 5 or 6 hours that it takes to get to the big money. When I play at a live event, I don't have this problem (I am focusing on my opponents actions and reactions).

If there are any other players, like me, who suffer from poker attention deficit syndrome I have a suggestion for you. I have started using my chip set to keep my actual chip stack in front of me. This forces me to look at what I'm pushing in before I make that emotional call to the bully that's pushing me around. It's easy to click that mouse to make a bet but when you have to physically count out the chips for the call, it will slow you down and make you think. It is the same mentality when a shopper uses a credit card versus using cash. It is much harder to pull that money from your wallet but that credit card is soooo tempting.

Since I have started doing this, my multi table finishes have been much better. Last week I played in 3 multis with the following finishes

* 20th out of 600 in a 7CS multi
* 91st out of 2,137 in NLH
* 485th out of 2,066 in NLH (due to my bad timing on a bluff)

Try this in your next multi and let me know what you think.
KDJ

Nothing that a few SNG s can't fix!

2006-01-04T19:08:00.000-06:00

2006 got off to a rough start for my online bankroll. I hit a sour run on a 2/4 table and before I knew it I was down 200 bucks. I decided to change things up and go back to the comffy surroundings of SNG tournaments. Things changed in a hurry. In the last three days I have played 10 SNGs and monied in 7 of those

I won three 2 table tournies
2nd in two single table tournies
3rd in two single table tournies

This more than made up for my early losses!

In effort to polish what little skill that I have in Omaha, I jumped into a 20 multi in which I took a beating, so the next DADI should be interesting.

Happy New Year !!!

2006-01-01T11:37:00.000-06:00

As I reflect on 2005, it was a great year in many ways.

First off, my family did not experience a single loss of life. As my family grows older, that is something to be very thankful for. Another great thing was On December 26th, I became a first time Grandfather.

From a professional prospective, God continues to bless me. I have thoroughly enjoyed my 10 years with Sears but my career path is taking a turn in two weeks as I had another opportunity that is just too good to pass up. I look forward to my new opportunity.

In hobby land, (which is golf, golf and more golf), I recorded my first and only DOUBLE EAGLE. For those of you who do not play golf, that is getting a 2 on a par 5. I hit about a 300-yard drive and from 170 yards I knocked it in the hole! A double eagle is one of the rarest accomplishments in golf. Only seven were recorded last year in the state of Georgia (while there were over 500 hole in ones). I also shot an 80 which was my best round of the last 10 years or so.

In my poker life, I had a great year. I participated in my first live event ever. It was in Biloxi at the Grand. It was a $200 + $20 buy in. Over 300 people were in it and I finished 27th, it was a blast. Online, I had a solid year. A few of the highlights that I remember were winning $1000 by finishing 2nd in the mini-steps, an $800 win on a 7 card stud multi tournament, and just a few weeks ago finishing 8th and winning $1080 in a $30 NLH event. And while I didn’t win a lot of money, I was proud of my 3rd place finish in the DADI. The field was full of great players and I was fortunate to catch cards at the right time.

While it is not that sexy, I have listed my “Things To Do In 2006” list.

1) Be the best Christian that I can be.
2) Put a floor in my attic.
3) Plan a family trip to Hawaii.
4) Shoot even par.
5) Buy another piece of rental property.
6) Participate and money in a WSOP event.
7) In online poker, finish 2006 in the black by at least 5k this year.
8) Refine my poker betting strategy.
9) Restore my 1977 Corvette
10) Last but not least, make new friends.

Have a great 2006!
Kelly Joyce Sr.

2005-12-29T14:46:00.000-06:00

2006 is setting up to be a great year for me. Not only did I join the poker blog world (which is new to me), but I also became a GRANDPA for the first time (at the young age of 41)! Rylee came into the world on 12/26 at 7:12 p.m. She weighted a whopping 5 lbs., 10 ozs. I look forward to throwing cards as well as talking family with each of you.

KDJ

Bloogers Tourney

2005-12-28T23:03:00.000-06:00

I had a great time in the "Donkey's Always Draw Invitational" tournament. Thanks to Jordan and Jason for putting it on. I look forward to participating in future events. I managed a third place finish and was proud to do it, there were some great players.

First Post

2005-12-28T19:57:00.000-06:00

I have to say thanks to surflexus for turing me on to this site. He is my best friend from high school. It is very interesting to read other players insight on the wonderful game of poker.