Someone shoot me in the face plz.
kthx.

I swear, ever since I made that post about being lucky, I have been on the worst downer of my poker career.

I humbly appeal to the poker Gods to forgive me for my insubordination. Please, I beg for mercy.

I share these histories from today with you, as I feel it will serve as a warning to those foolish enough as me to trifle with the Gods. These are not for the meek at heart:

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $1/$2 Blinds - 9 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

SB: $118
BB: $68.55
UTG: $209.25
Hero (UTG+1): $215.25
MP1: $197
MP2: $289.05
MP3: $387.95
CO: $175.30
BTN: $99.30
Preflop: Hero is dealt (9 Players)

UTG folds, Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, MP3 raises to $22, 4 folds, Hero calls $14

Flop: ($47) (2 Players)

Hero bets $24, MP3 raises to $82, Hero raises all-in to $193.25, MP3 calls $111.25

Turn: ($433.50) (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($433.50) (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $433.50 ($3 Rake)

MP3 had (three of a kind, Aces) and WON (+$215.25)

Hero had (three of a kind, Sixes) and LOST (-$215.25)

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $2/$4 Blinds - 7 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

SB: $275.60
BB: $426.70
UTG: $518.30
UTG+1: $56.40
Hero (MP): $371.70
CO: $394
BTN: $392

Preflop: Hero is dealt (7 Players)
UTG raises to $14, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $36, 4 folds, UTG raises to $108, Hero calls $72

Flop: ($222) (2 Players)

UTG bets $151, Hero raises all-in to $263.70, UTG calls $112.70

Turn: ($749.40) (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($749.40) (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $749.40 ($3 Rake)

UTG had (three of a kind, Kings) and WON (+$374.70)

Hero had and LOST (-$371.70)


I am ready to be saved.

*cliffnotes* i should have 1200 more dollaz than i do

April results

Well, I'm feeling a little bit better.

I spent the weekend with my cousin, who's visiting korea from Japan. We had some good times....it was really good to have some family over here, as I havn't seen any of them in like 9mos.

So yeah, the weekend was pretty good, and I got to forget about poker. I visited some famous church with some friends here in bundang. St. John's cathedral I think? To change my luck, I got baptized:

The place was cool. They had a lot of really nice art depicting bible stories from genesis to the resurrection. I'm not really religious, but it was interesting nonetheless.

They also had a replica of the pieta by michelangelo... one of the three recognized by the vatican.
Anyhow, I havn't played any poker since the last post. It was probbaly a good descision as my head wasn't really in it.

April total was $2002.50, which brings my year to date to $21,338.09.


My only goal for may is to play 100k hands. That's it.

There doesn't seem to be much interest for my tourny idea (see friday's post), so I'm gonna just forget about it for now. I don't think it would be much fun with 3 people.

Here's to a good may!

I quit.

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, they do. -4k in 4 days.

I'm taking the rest of the month off, and conceding my worst month of the year.

I think I made $2k.

See you in may.

First, I'm glad my story(see last post) got so much love. I x-posted on 2+2 and got a lot of props for it there. I wrote it at about 7 in the morning when I couldn't sleep after a super long, losing session.

Which brings me to my next point -- things havn't been going too hot. I hit a pretty nasty downswing, coupled with those failed shots I mentioned in previous posts.

Almost zero chance I hit the 10k mark, and I'll be happy if I end up over 5k the way things are going.

But to put things in prespective, that's still quite a bit of change. Monetary goals in poker are stupid anyways, b/c you can't predict how well you will run. I think from here on out, I will just set hand goals (i.e 'play 100k hands/month'). This is what I've done in the past, and it puts a lot less pressure on myself, which is definitely a good thing.

Whatever, when the 10k month comes, AND IT WILL, I'll do the freeroll.

FREEROLL INFORMATION:

Right now, I'm thinking of running a private $1.10 tourny on stars. The money won't be important, but I'll give the winner a 1hr coaching session. We can use skype (or msn), and I can sweat you, or you can sweat me... whatever. Or I can review a hand session of yours. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT. If no one cares I'll just scrap the idea.



Lastly, a shout out to my buddy Sina (simsina or stars) who came in 3rd in a $30 tourny for about $1.5k. I sweated him through the last half of the tourny and he played awesomely. Really wish he could've taken it down, because if anyone deserves a little good luck, it's him.

Anyways, to thank me for sticking out the tourny with him, he shipped me $100 to play a tourny where we'd split the winnings 50/50. I didn't cash though, sorry bro. ;) Thanks for your confidence regardless.

I'm gonna play a tonne of hands this weekend. April numbers will be forthcoming...

I don't know where else to begin, but at the beginning. Forgive me in advance if my story is confusing, as it's all still very foggy to even myself.

As poker players, we dream of finding the biggest fish, and the juiciest games. I'm primarily an online grinder, playing $200NL almost exclusively. Even when I find the fish, I'm usually only busting them $200 at a time.

Well, last night was a different story altogether. Last night, I found my game.It all began with a phone call. My very good friend, a self-made, relatively wealthy individual, called me up.

"You still play poker right?"

Of course I do."

Would you be interested in a really big game tommorow?"

Well, how big are we talking?

"The buy-in is $25k"

Hrmm.. just a BIT out of my leauge there.

"I'll cover you completely, and we spilt whatever you win. I've heard some crazy fishy stories about the...."

Stop. You had me at 'cover you completely', sir.

Fast forward to last night.

I show up, and meet my friend outside a pretty snazzy looking cigar club. He tells me not to worry, the place isn't shady and I don't have to worry about getting robbed or anything.

"Just play your game, and don't stress if you lose, OK?"

Ok.

As soon as I walk into the card room, I feel he is right. It is really brightly lit, and everyone seems to be happy. It all feels very classy, and... well, 'rich' for lack of a better word. You can just feel money oozing from every corner of the place.

I sit at the table and say hello, as a beautiful woman brings me a couple racks of chips.

$25,000.

This is probbaly 10x more than I have ever held in my hands, and oh yeah, pretty much the size of my entire bankroll. I start to get a little nervous.

My nerves die down however, after about the first orbit. Blinds are $100/200, when I pick up ATss on the button and raise 2 limpers in front of me to $1k. I sort of laugh in my head, as I'm making a PF raise as big as any pot I've ever won. Everyone lays thier hand down and I take down my biggest pot ever... a whopping $695 profit!

The game goes on for about an hour. I havn't really been shying away from any action, and have been playing my solid aggressive game. The game was soft, with lots of limping, and general loose/passive play. I'm up to $30k, and feeling on top of the world. I'd honestly have been happy to leave right then. But I was freerolling, and hugely +EV in the game.

What happens next is incredible. There is no better word to decribe this moment in time.

A sharply dressed man in early position raises to $1,000. I had this guy pegged as the biggest fish at the table, when I saw him go waaaay to far with a draw against a set. He hit on the river and scooped a $50k pot. He's sitting on about $60k now, and easily has me covered. There is one caller between us. He's not important.

I pick up Th 9h in late position and call.

The blinds fold.$3.3k in the pot.

The flop comes:Kh Qh As

Sharply dressed man fires $2k into the pot pretty quickly. The man between us calls, and it's to me with a flush draw and gutshot.

I noticed when the man in between us called, the sharply dressed man was not pleased with it. I thought I might have a chance to squeeze both these guys out and semi-bluff my way to a $7k pot. I muster up all my courage, and stack 3 $1k chips ontop of a $5k chip.

Raise.I say it confidently, as I throw the $8k into the pot.

Sharply dressed man considers my raise for all of 5seconds before locating $6k and throwing it into the pot. The man in between folds.

$21,300 in the pot.

The dealer burns a card, and drops down the turn.

J h

My heart began to pound so hard, I was sure it was visable through my shirt. I just made the immortal nuts, and there is over $20,000 in the pot. Over 100 buyins for my normal stakes.

Before it can sink in, sharply dressed man annouces "bet".

He severely underbets the pot and throws $5k in.

I didn't think. I don't know why. I have an unbeatable hand, but somehow before I can stop the words from coming out of my mouth, I declare "I'm all-in", and push all of my chips accross the white line.

Sharply dressed man tanks.

It's 15k more to him, and there is over $30k in the pot.

OMG OMG, why did I do that? Why didn't I just call? There is NO card that can come to beat me, and I just insta-shoved like an idiot.I try to maintain my composure.

What seems like 5 minutes passes, when sharply dressed man flashes a card at me from accross the table. It's the Ace of hearts . He thinks he has a draw to the nuts.

I've played enough live to know that when a player picks up his cards, and especially when he flashes one, he is folding almost 100% of the time.

"I know you have it..." he says. "...I'm not getting the right odds to call and suck out."

I know my hand is unbeatable. He could draw 5 more cards, and never have a hand that beats mine. He can't make a royal because the 10 is in my hand.

So, for the first time since saying hello at the beginning of the game, I speak.

"Ok, how about I give you odds? The dealer can put out 5 more cards, and you use the 9 board cards to make your best hand, and I'll only use the first five. Deal?"

He looks stunned. Everyone at the table does, especially the dealer.

"Are you serious? Wait, do you have a full house?"

Lol, impossible. But I say nothing. And he reiterates what I just told him.

"So I get 5 more cards to make my best 5 card hand, and you only get the river. You're going to give me 5 chances to hit my flush?"

I nod and tell him yes.

We verify with the dealer that this is ok, and after some great hesitation, she calls the club manager over.She expalins the situation to him, and he is clueless. He says if both players agree, then we may do what we choose with the money.

I look accross the table.

"Do we have a deal?"

He shakes his head in disbelief, tells me I'm insane, and agrees.

What an angle shoot. My heart is racing. I wonder what the reaction is going to be when I table my cards.

$60,000 in the pot.

The dealer burns a card, and puts down the river:

3d

The next 4 cards come down in this order, if I remember correctly.

10s

10d

10c

10h

The table goes nuts.

He just made a royal flush.

But wait. The 10h ? Isn't that in my hand?

I double check my hole cards.

10h 9h

Umm. Yep, there it is. I table my hand in the commotion.

The dealers eyes fill with confusion. Other's at the table begin to notice the oddness of seein 5 tens on the table.

An eerie silence slowly fills the room

.After much discussion, the dealer declares a foul deck, and all stacks are to be returned to thier original size before the hand was dealt.I'm in shock.

Too many thoughts are running through my head. I just cost myself the biggest pot in my life. And seriously, a foul deck? Are you kidding me?

None of this makes sense to me. This is just too incredible. And usually when I find myself in this situation, it only means one thing.

Incredible indeed, I'm dreaming.

Ugh.

I'm back from a failed shot at some 10/20NL.

I bought in for $750, and lasted about 15hands.

I got all my money in preflop with 2kings versus AK, and dude spiked an Ace on the river. GG ME! I'm about a 70% fav. there, but obv. I can't hold up when it counts.

For what it's worth, this is probably close to twice as much as I've ever lost in a single hand.

I suppose the only positive I can take from this is that I didn't even flinch. I didn't yell, curse, or do anything. I just kind of rolled my eyes and smiled. I got my money in as a big favourite, and I'll look at this as just something evening my luck out (see last post).

I'm thinking my $10k month is a little out of reach now, but time will tell.

I don't want to look, but I'm probably around:

$5500/$10,000

Sorry about the teaser post eariler... I started to post and got pulled away.

This software I mentioned is a really cool way to see if you're "lucky" or not.

Let me explain. Often in poker, the skill factor is removed, and your fate is in the cards. We put our faith in math, hoping that in the long run our good decisions will be rewarded with fourtunes.

An example:

I have 2 queens vs As8s on a board of 2c-2s-5s-6h
We both go all-in for $100.
I have the best hand, but of course, my opponent can get an Ace or any spade (except the Q of spades because it make me a full house) and win the pot. That's 11 outs if I'm counting correctly.
So I should win this hand 75% of the time, but 25% of the time, my opponent will win.

So we calculate the equity of this hand. If we played this hand a million times, some times I would lose $100, other times I would win $100, but I would average a win of $75 per hand (75% of $100 is $75).

We call these things "sklansky bucks", named after the famous poker author. So anyways, I found a program that calulate your sklansky bucks. How much money SHOULD I have (if the percentages always evened out, which they wont in the short run).

So I ran my numbers. Am I lucky!? Comon, please be lucky!

found 2529 headsup allin situations
won: 1566 lost: 900 tied: 63
average potsize: 173.50$
average ev: 0.6052
money won: 266722.49$
money expected (based on allin equity): 263013.03$
money difference: +3709.46$
max money diff: 2007-01-13 00:59:32+09 at +5015.01$
min money diff: 2006-09-13 11:49:21+09 at -201.53$
total_bet: 212662.07$

LUCKY!

Hahaha. So yeah, I'm up $3709.46 more than I should be! I'll take it!
It's also interesting to note, that when I get all my money in, I'm generally a 60% favourite to win. If I keep that up, the money should continue to flow in.

Instructions on how to set this up for yourself (from TheProdigy on 2+2)

D/L this file and put it in a folder with the rest of these
files:http://www.johnhartery.com/Allin.zip

you have to put pokenum.exe into the same directory**

Download Pokenum.exe in this link**http://download.gna.org/pokersource/archives/poker-eval/windows/windows/xp/poker-eval/examples/

and also the postgres jdbc drivers (im using 8.2)http://jdbc.postgresql.org/download/postgresql-8.2-504.jdbc3.jar

put everything into the same folder, edit settings.txt and run the bat
file

have fun

This was made by advis0r, his name is the same on stars if you want
to donate. I assume you need to have your database in postgresql to do
this.

So go ahead and give this a try. Let me know if you're lucky or not!

Some of my close friends know that I've been saving a lot of money and I'm seriously considering purchasing a condo. With the looming housing bubble bust, I think I'm in a great position to profit from the real estate down swing while, at the same time, taking my professional poker career to a whole other level. I came acrosss this book How to Profit from the Coming Real Estate Bust: Money-Making Strategies for the End of the Housing Bubble and will definately be doing some more research to time my investment right.

Oh man, I found the coolest software ever!

I'm gonna make an interesting post at some point tommorow with the details.

Sklansky released his 10th book No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it. This time around he is joined by co-author Ed Miller, who last wrote with Sklansky and Mason Malmuth back in 2004 when they published Small Stakes Hold'em.

I hear this is a very good book that actually takes you beyond his classic Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players. For example, he introduces the concept of "Multiple Level Thinking". Most good players know that bluffing a calling station is not a positive EV move. This would be an example of first level thinking: the calling station calls the 2X and 3X and even the all-in bet, so don't bluff. But during the course of the evening you notice that this is not just a 'call every bet' player but rather a player who recognizes your play and distinguishes it from the maniac on your right. So you know if the maniac is in the hand the player is more likely to call but if you are the lone raiser, he will lay it down. So, you have moved him to a second level thinker and now can use higher level play to take his chips.

Sklansky can be a tough read but, again, I highly recommend reading his books if you havn't already.

Check out:

The Theory of Poker

and

Hold'Em Poker for Advanced Players (Advance Player)

bonus cleared

$6600/$10,000

freeroll is looking possible!

edit:

fun poker video i was looking at :

The Real Hustle - The Poker Scam

I had a great weekend. Saturday was good for poker (see last post) and then i went uber-romantic for my g/f. No details, for fear of being made fun of.

SUnday was filled with soccer and video games. I'd like to try to get in better shape, but 1 day of activity isn't gonna cut it. Although, everything sort of balances out here. I walk a lot more here, and eat a lot healthier, but don't get nearly as much weight training done. I havn't been on a scale in 8mos, but I'd assume I'm around the same weight, or maybe even less, from when I left. At least I'm not turning into a fatass playing poker everyday. ;)

Anyways, I didn't play much today.

I had a really bad/strange dream last night where I got into a bunch of trouble. I woke up with zero desire to play. I just felt strange.
Eventually, I was about to start playing when I got a phone call to go for some lunch, and I opted for that instead. Took it as a bit of a sign.

I went with a bunch of friends to a tuna place that is easily the best value in korea. $5 for a huge meal, with tonnes of good fish and side dishes.

ANyways, my buddy Chris came over and I decided to play a few tourneys while he watched. I went really deep in a 360man $33 tourny and ended up finsihing 6th for about $500. So the day wasn't a complete loss. I'm going to put in a 3k hand session in tonight and see what happens.

Another good day at the tables for me.

Today was topped off by a sweet three way pot where I flopped quads. If that wasn't good enough, one player turned the top boat, and the other rivered the nut flush. Everyone got it in on the river, and I scooped the $650 pot. :D

$3,987/$10,000 -- still no bonuses cleared, should be soon which will add another $1500.

What a difference a year can make.

A year ago today, I walked away from my final university class. I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do with my life, and I guess that much has remained.

Not much else has stayed the same, however.

After graduating, I left my parent's home in Mississauga(toronto), and set out with my buddy Tommy to teach english in asia. I left a lot behind. Great friends, a caring girlfriend, very supportive parents and simply, a really easy life.

I'd never been on my own, and hell, I'd never even been to asia. It's been a learning experience. It hasn't always been easy, but it's a good feeling knowing that you're a man and can handle yourself in the world.

It wasn't long before the school I taught at went bankrupt, and I was stuck in Korea with no job. That's when I decided to go pro, and try to pull as much money from this game as I could before it was too late.

I managed to take two pretty sweet vacations since I've been here. Cambodia and Japan. Both were incredible, but I really enjoyed cambodia. It's a very eye opening experience when you're in a third-world country. The trip really reshaped some of my views on the world.

And that brings me to where I am. Grinding every day from my apartment. I have new friends, new job, a new girlfriend, and the feeling that I'm on the right track. Of course I still love and miss everyone back home, but it's been a challenege to keep in touch with everyone. I think about you guys all the time, and will certainly be throwing a big jam whenever it is that I come home. And yes, thats still how I see it. Home. No matter how long I live here, I don't think I'll ever consider this country my home.

So when will I be coming home? I'm not sure exactly. I should be home at some point during the summer. Whether that trip will be my return or simply a vacation is up in the air. It depends on a lot of different things, which are impossible for me to analyze at this moment.

So lets reflect on this whole poker thing for a moment. When I started this blog, I set out some goals for myself.

I'm going to make $4000 in June, or ~ $1000/week for the rest of the year.... My ultimate goal is to make $100,000/yr, which is both reasonable and attainable, as absurd as that may sound to some. It wont be this year, and it may not be next year, but it will happen.

Well, the first one I have accomplished. In the last 52 weeks, I've made about $50,000USD profit from poker. Check.

Maybe more importantly, my ultimate goal is now in my sights for 2007. It will happen, you can book it.


So I guess that's about it. I had a great year.

I think I really accomplished a lot. I'm proud of myself for having the balls to get up and do something different, and that I've positively taken on the challeneges my new environment has presented.

So what about next year?
Well, like I said. $100k in 2007 for sure.

Other than that, I'm not positive what other goals to set.
I definitley want to see more of asia, like china and thailand.
I also want to get my money in some good investments, likely real estate.
I guess I just want to keep doing what I'm doing. Not getting too far ahead of myself, and being positive and constructive about any other issues that come my way. That's all I can hope to do.

Thanks for reading my brain dump. I'll talk about poker next post, i promise. ;)
Hopefully you stick with me through what will likely be another exciting year. I'll do my best to keep everyone entertained and informed.

cheers,

John

Done for the day, I think. Expect reflection post in next 24hrs.

32k hands so far:
$2679/$10,000 ($1500 bonus to be cleared by saturday)

Last episode of high stakes poker was last night :(

Here's my favourite hand from the last show:



Oh, and tommorow will be my 1yr anniversary of graduating from university. I'll take some time to reflect on some of the successes and failures I've had, and where I want to go from here.

Games are getting tougher!

This is my favourite hand of the month.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

saw flopsaw showdown

MP2 ($202.45)

THE_MAIN ($197)

SB ($38)

BB ($152.85)

Preflop: THE_MAIN is MP3 with Kc, Ac.

3 folds, MP2 calls $2, THE_MAIN raises to $10, 2 folds, SB calls $9, BB calls $8, MP2 calls $8.

Standard stuff....

Flop: ($40) 3c, As, Ad (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, MP2 checks, THE_MAIN checks.

Not so standard. There is easily a case made for betting here, but I'm trying to make someone with AQ or a baby ace more comfortable. So i check.

Turn: ($40) 4d (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, MP2 checks, THE_MAIN bets $22, SB folds, BB calls $22, MP2 calls $22.

Okay, no more checking, as flush draw and straight draw are on the board now. Also, I'm pretty sure no one else has an ace. So I make a small bet.

River: ($106) Th (3 players)

BB checks, MP2 checks, THE_MAIN bets $55, BB folds, MP2 calls $55.

Ok, everything missed. Only hand I'm worried about is Ace-ten. This guy just called, so he must have a scared ace with a small kicker.

Final Pot: $216

Results below:

MP2 has 5h 6h (one pair, aces).

Hero has Kc Ac (three of a kind, aces).

Outcome: Hero wins $216.

Oh... or... maybe he rivered a draw?
Umm.... nice call sir? Sorry, 6high's no good.

This was also not an accident by him... he thought about it for like 30seconds.
The very next hand I pushed AQ preflop and he called with A8. My hand held up.

<3 poker...



oh, p.s., I'm running hot

$1,615/$10,000

Not much to update with. I pretty much took the weekend off to relax and enjoy myself.

Friday night started off slowly, but eventually got a little nutty. I wont go into great details, but I've since had to make a few repairs around the house.

Saturday was awesome. I took my g/f to this african musical called Umoja.

It was incredible, as it took you through the evolution of african music. Tickets were a bit on the expensive side, but we both had a blast.

Sunday, I played some soccer with the other foriengers in my area. Decent game, but poor turnout b/c a lot of people were out boozing hard the night before. Then we went into seoul for some awesome greek food.

Interesting weekend overall.

I played a bit of poker this morning (3k hands) and won some cash. I'm probbaly gonna play a bit before before I sleep. I should have a nice $1500 bonus cleared by the end of the week.
But for now:

$955/$10,000

$650/$10,000

The perfect way to end a session!

So today I ran pretty badly. One of those days where nothing goes right. Draws don't come in, people flop better sets than yours, and of course, your KK runs into AA preflop. The latter happened twice over the session, and I lost stacks on both occasions.

Anyhow, I'm down $600 or something for the day, and down $400 for the month. SO I'm feeling like crap, it's 5am, and I want to sleep. So I start closing down all my tables, waiting for the big blind to come my way before I leave.

If you don't want to automatically post your blinds, you have to click off a button. Well, I must've missed one on a single table, because up pops a table. And on that table, I have two black kings.... and everybody covered (more money than anyone involved).

I had bittersweet feelings about seeing these sexy cards, because I've been killed wth them today. Anyhow, a loose-ish player raises to $6 from middle position and gets 3 or 4 callers, including the maniac in the small blind. I just want to take down this pot now, because I'm tired and just want to end the session. I got to put in a huge raise, but realize I'm at a pot limit table, and not no-limit. Great. So I pot it. About a $26 raise.

Instantly, the original raiser makes it $90, and my head sinks into my chest. I close my eyes and curse my luck for having ran into aces AGAIN.

When I look up, I see somehting I didn't expect. The maniac in the small blind called this $90 raise. What the fuck?

So it's time to try to figue out waht people have.

There is no way the small blind has me beat. He wouldn't just call twice with aces, so he must have AK, AQ, or a smaller pair, which I'm a huge favourite against.

The original raiser's range is much smaller. He likely has aces, QQ, or maybe AK. Even less likely, but also possible is that he has KK too.

If the original raiser has AA, and the maniac has a small pair, I'm still about 20% to win this hand. So with, ~$200 already in the pot, and the chance that the original raiser has QQ, I close my eyes and push all in.

Original raiser insta-calls, and maniac thinks.....thinks......thinks...... and calls his last $110.

$623 in the pot ($50 side pot between me and original raiser).

The board comes out lke this.

Td - 4d - 3s - Jd - 5h

Decent board for me, as the only thing that I'm worried about is AA(obviously) and maybe AK with 2 diamonds.

Oh yeah, and of course 5-5.

Yes, the maniac in the hand had 55, and hit a set on the river to scoop up the pot. The original raiser had QQ, so the pot was mine until the river.

I was about 66% to win this hand before the flop, and instead of being even for the month, I'm now down $600.

:(

-$600/$10,000

go me.

sick, wicked, nasty hand from the last esp. of high stakes poker. enjoy



i would've shown

I put in a man-sized session today of like 8k hands.
I was down ~$800 for the month, but I booked a $1k+ win today.


So I'm at $232 for the month, with some serious bonuses to be cashed in if I put in enough hours.

$232/$10,000

March Results

Cash Games:
$200NL - 54k hands for $3,536.25
$400NL - 400 hands for $605.65
$200PL - 1k hands for $378.70
$200NL(6max) - 30 hands for $46.50

Totals: 55,154 hands for $4,567.10 [$54.99/hr]



Tournaments:
Totals: 16 tournies for $201.44 [roi of 50.06%]

Bonuses:
Stars bonuses: $1500
Rando bonus from stars : $76.57
Total: $1576.57

March Net profit:$6,345.11
----------------------------------------------

Year to date: $19,335.59

Some thoughts....
I'm lazy. I only played 83 hours this month. This might sound like a lot, but I played 187 in janurary.
There is only one way to right this, and that is to do a marathon month in april. I am going to play so many hands, it's going to be sick. My goal is to hit $10k for april, which is very doable. If I do hit the 10k, im going to do a freeroll tounry for 1% of my winnings. That's right. My loyal readers will have a chance to share in some of this money. More details will be forthcoming, but you will need to sign up for pokerstars to take advantage of it. There will also be a bounty on my had for an additional sum of cash, as I'll be playing in the tourny.

Party at the Playboy Mansion

So my buddy lives in LA and his girlfriend is promoting a party at the Playboy Mansion coming up in June. I planned on going because it's on 'The List' of things I gotta do before I die, but now I'm leaning towards saving my money for a condo instead. If any of my VIP readers are interested I can probably hook you up with an invite (see below for details). Just send me an email at themainsdomain[at]gmail.com


"Hi All,

There is a private party happening at the Playboy Mansion June 23rd!!!!!! Get ready to start off the summer with the biggest three day party ever.

Since I’m part of the marketing team for this party I can invite my friends for $1000 so if you are interested in going….

Kandyland is $1500 and goes up to $2000 for a guy ticket (only 600 guy tickets will be sold). All 1000 girls will be cast and hand picked. The ticket includes admission to Kandyland at the Playboy Mansion, full open bar all night, food, desserts, live entertainment and a donation to Marconi Foundation for Kids. We also have taken over an entire swanky Hollywood Hotel so that all Kandyland party goers can play all weekend long. Friday evening (6/22) will be the Kandyland weekend kick off party so you can mingle and meet people before the party, Saturday (6/23) is Kandyland at the Playboy Mansion followed by an after party at the hotel and Sunday (6/24) is the Kandyland Pool Party at the hotel.

Expect Kandyland to be the ultimate sight and sound experience- think Willy Wonka meets Alice in Wonderland. The Karma Foundation is transforming the Playboy Mansion with dazzling extreme lighting effects and visuals, 6ft Lollipops, giant mushrooms, gum drop trees, cotton candy pillars, the Kandy Forest, they will be transforming the pool and grotto with lighting, hanging things, projecting things, etc….."




See below link of last year’s party

www.KarmaKandyland.com

This has nothing to do with poker, but whatever:

Some rando korean pics!

me and my girl:

me and some of my boys:

Stay tuned though, I'll have a big annoucement and my monthly numbers in 2 days!

fun hand and some good news

first, the fun hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (8 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

MP1 ($89.20)

Hero ($388.75)

Preflop: THE_MAIN is MP2 with Kd, Kc.

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $2, MP1 raises to $8, THE_MAIN calls $8, 4 folds, UTG+1 folds.

Flop: ($21) 4d, 6c, 5h (2 players)

MP1 bets $10, THE_MAIN calls $10.

Turn: ($41) 9c (2 players)

MP1 bets $30, THE_MAIN raises to $80

SO i put him all in, and he stops to think. I know exactly what he has at this point, and I know I'm winning. So i tell him what he has.

THE_MAIN says: "JJ no good"

Right away he calls.

MP1 calls $41.20 (All-In).

River: ($192.20) 4c (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $192.20

Results in white below:

MP1 has Js Jd (two pair, jacks and fours).

THE_MAIN has Kd Kc (two pair, kings and fours).

Outcome: THE_MAIN wins $192.19.

So did I tell him exactly what he had? Yes.
Did I tell him I had him beat? Yup.
Did he still call? Naturally.
Was his mind blown? Obviously.

I'd have given anything to know what was going on in his head when I called out his hand. Awesome.

Hand number is #9125933605 in case someone wants to verify that this actually went down.


Now, the good news for canadians on stars. I had a long chat with one of the members of support, and they assured me I could use echeques to deposit/withdrawl directly from my account. All you have to do is deposit once ($25USD min) and then you can withdrawl from there. This actually makes withdrawling easier for me, but I can't move money on as freely (for other bonuses and stuff). C'est la vie.

A link to more info on eChecks (only available for canadians)

why neteller, why?

In a recent move, Neteller has decided to cease all transactions to and from online gambling companies for all of its canadian customers. This is coming after already shuttin out the US. I really don't understand why they are doing this, especially because the canadian government has yet to show any opposiition to online gambling.

Here's a link to a FAQ that addresses a few of the issues:
http://content.neteller.com/content/en/member_businessupdate_canada.htm

This is going to be the biggest hassle to deal with, espeically with me being in asia, and all my accounts being canadian. Oh and of course, the games will undoubtedly suffer in the short run (at least).

Ah poker... don't die on me yet. :(

getting lazy

I havnt played any cash games since my last post. I guess I've gotten a bit complacent.

Today I played a bunch of small tournaments and had no success at all. I''m probably down like $100 for the day. (i have one still going, a super satelite to the world series of poker)

I think its pyschological... when I'm winning, I don't play as much. In my head, this is probbaly to protect winnings. When I'm losing, I want to play more to get even. It makes total sense, but has got to be counter productive. Generally, you play better when you're winning, so I should try to reverse this pattern.

Whatever, it came at a good time, because I had a busy weekend planned.

One of my friends in korea, Joe Pineault, got married on saturday. He's a pro boxer here, and he threw a really nice party for everyone. It was a great time, but eventually, all the booze led to a bunch of fights btwn friends. I wasn't directly involved in anything, but it turned an otherwise great night pretty sour. So I spent most of sunday helping things get smoothed over.

Happy to say everything got worked out eventually.

I will probably post some pics from the wedding when I get a chance. But I'll leave you with the main reason you dont want to pass out in a bar:

In an interesting development, I somehow managed to "out-do" my best day at cash ever.

It's so weird that I've been playing at this level for so long, and have my two best days so close to one another. Maybe I'm getting better? Probably just variance :)

I made exactly $2399.05 today in 3341 hands, which barely eclipses the great day I had last week. I also did it in 2 less hours, so it was that much sicker.

It was pretty sweet to have a big day, because this week has been pretty bad poker-wise. Just lost a few key all-ins where I had a huge edge in equity.

But anyways, this day puts me at exactly $4k for the month, excluding bonuses. I also have big plans for April, which I will announce next week. lol cliffhangers

Good news for any of you that got screwed by NETeller

"NETeller Plc announced this morning that it signed an agreement yesterday with the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO), allowing the firm to create, within 75 days, a plan for repatriating frozen funds to its U.S. customers."

Full article here

Raymer Gets Hacked!

2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer was temporarily victimized by an account hacker who used brute force and repeated attempts to guess Raymer's Poker Stars password and gain access to his account on Sunday. The hacker then opened up several heads-up sit-'n'-go tournaments in larger amounts and began dumping the contents of the account into that of someone screen-named "Ikeyrson," apparently oblivious to the fact that Raymer's play is typically watched by dozens of onlookers every time
he logs on to the Stars site.

Naturally, some of these onlookers recognized the bizarre chip-dumping as highly suspicious behavior, and contacted Stars security, who in turn contacted Raymer about the incident.

Because of the very public way in which the theft was attempted, Stars was able to freeze the accounts and move the money back into Raymer's possession, as Raymer re-secured that account with a stronger password. The hacker had not yet had time to move the money into third-party accounts, which may have represented a more difficult challenge in having funds returned. Raymer reported that Poker Stars was unable to identify the culprit to him, likely due to European laws regarding Internet confidentiality.

What's the lesson here? Make sure you have a strong password on your poker accounts and if you're going to hack a poker celebrity at least do a direct cash transfer!

Here is an interesting article from pokernews.com that makes the conclusion "there is no such thing as luck in poker".

"Ask any good poker player if they are willing to risk their tournament on a 10 to 1 draw and they will say: "Yes!" Every single time. The question is simple, do you say yes to this propostion every single time? If you do then you understand variance and you reject the fuzzy logic of luck. Furthermore, you understand that sitting down at a poker table engages you in a game that is, in fact, gambling and you are doing this voluntarily."


Click Here For the Article

Well, if you read last post, you'd know that I have a new lucky mouse. Well, I took it for another test ride today.

I'm still buzzing from the excitement of this sick session, which ended with an even sicker series of hands.

Where do I begin?

Ok, my girlfriend left my place early this morning for school, and woke me up in the process. So I'm up a lot earlier than I usually am, and decide to put in a marathon session.

It went really well, and I was up $1400 after like 6hours. I was feeling great, as this was one of my best sessions ever. Everything seemed to be going my way, which is the way I like it.

Anyhow, I was feeling a bit tired, and wanted to end my session... but there was this one fish floating around this one table. Slowly I started closing off my other tables, and focusing on this one particular player. At this point, he has about $600 in front of him, from his originally $200. He made that $400 playing like an idiot -- I had noticed, and planned to exploit it. As luck would have it, I also happened to have $600 on this table.

He has making ridiculously large raises preflop (raises to $50, when normally its $6 or $8), and I happened to pick up KK . He raised to something stupid like $70, and I reraised to $200. He folded.

Damn. There goes my big chance to bust him. But I decide to stick around for a bit.

TWO HANDS LATER, I get dealt AA on the button. This time he raises to $36. Again, I raise to $200. But now, something I didn't expect develops. The next player, a good player, raises all-in to $270, and the player beside him calls $131 all in!!! WTF!?? The crazy dude folds, and obviously I call with the best hand in a $700 pot!

Thankfuly, my aces hold up.

The good player had QQ. Now, normally, he wouldn't go all in, but he knew that I knew that the 1st player was an idiot. So he knows I will try to isolate him with hands worse than QQ. He got unlucky that I had 1 of the 2 hands that beat him. The other guy called with AK which is just dumb. But anyways.

THE VERY NEXT HAND. I get dealt 66 and limp in for $2. The pyscho, who is still here and has lots of money, raises to $28. Usually this is an easy fold, but against an idiot with this much money, I have implied odds to call and hit a set. And guess what.... I did.

*** FLOP *** [6h 3d Ah]

This is beautiful, because if he has an ace, hes not folding. He bets $34, and I make a risky play and just call. I'm just hoping he will bet again on the turn so I can raise him.

*** TURN *** [6h 3d Ah] [Qd]

Nice card for me. If he has a Q in his hand, he's now less likely to fold. He does indeed bet again, this time $44. I can't wait any longer, I need to build this pot so I can get all my money in on the river. I also need to charge flush draws. I raise to $150. He stops and thinks for quite a while.

FInally he calls the $150 bet.

At this point I have him on an ace, or some other random pair... maybe even two pair. I don't think he has a flush draw, because he would play it harder, and also wouldve called my raise much faster.

*** RIVER *** [6h 3d Ah Qd] [Kd]

This card completes the flush draw, and also made him a stragiht if he happened to have a HORRIBLY played JT. He thinks for a few seconds, and finally puts all his chips in the pot. All $314.55 of them.

Sick. What a huge bet, what a huge pot. This is the biggest decision I've ever had to make, and if I call and win, it would be my biggest pot ever. But there is no way i can lay this down now.

There is like $400 in the pot, and if he hit runner runner for flush or straight, then so be it.

I call.

*** SHOW DOWN ***

djphilippine: shows [4d 5c] (high card Ace)

the_main: shows [6s 6d] (three of a kind, Sixes)

the_main collected $1054.10 from pot

Styranger said, "lol"

Yeah, he didnt even have a pair. He had a busted straight draw, and a lot of heart! Too bad it wasnt enough. And with that, I ship the biggest pot of my life, and also the most winningest day at cash games ($2400).

And finally, here's me at a $200NL table with $1600 (SICK!)

i love it

I have some good news, and I have some bad news.

What do you want first? Bad news? Ok.

I lost my temper today for the first time in a while. It was a culmination of things, but it was a poker hand that set me off.

I started the day off on the wrong foot. As I was playing, I got into an argument with my girlfriend. It went on for a while, but I kept playing while she was crying (good boyfriend, I know).

After I got off the phone, I thought I could focus.

I couldn't.

I made a bad misclick in a big hand, and cost myself a $400 pot. Misclicks have happend before, but never for that much. It was from a clear lack of focus. This was added to having already been down about $500. So yeah, I snapped. I whipped my mouse across the room, and it shattered in a few peices. Well, thats one way to end a session when tilting, right?

Anyways, here the session, visually:

And here is the mouse, visually:

Ok, enough bad news. Time for the good news.

AFter this little incident, I cooled off and took a shower. I called my girlfriend and worked everything out (good boyfriend, I know). Then I took a nice long walk to the computer store and bought a new mouse. I came home, feeling much better and focused, and decided to fire up some more tables and play. Well, the real good news here is that my new mouse is lucky:

Ship it.

Anyways, I'm pretty dissapointed in myself that I flipped out. I try to pride myself on being emotionless with poker. I'm posting this as a reminder, and also to publically embarass myself for acting like a 12 year old.

If anything, maybe something can be learned from this. I guess my advice would be to keep a clear head any time you're playing. If you have something you need to deal with that's bothering you, do that first. The tables will always be waiting when you get back.

Numbers, numbers, numbers.

Well, it's the middle on the month and time for a little update.

I know I said I was breaking even, but I had a good last 5k hands.

24,158 hands for $1046.75 ($29.86/hr)

Graph:

Nice spike at the end, eh? And yeah, almost all of this is at NL200.


As for bonuses, I havn't cleared any yet, but should hit 2x$1500 by the end of the month. So this month might be pretty weak. Hopefully I can actually earn some $$ playing. :)



Next month should be better, because I'll hit my first milestone bonus when I earn 200,000 points. That will be good for $2k. So in april I should get between $5000-7500 in bonuses alone. Mmmm mmm mmm.

When I woke up this morning, I could barely imagine that I would even make it out of bed, let alone be involved in the biggest pot of my life.

Allow me to elaborate.

Last night, we drank.
Lots.
Stories were told, drunken phone calls were placed, insults were hurled, promises were made, but mostly, good times were had. This morning, however, was no fun at all. There is something about wine which gives me killer hangovers, and this was one of those times. I felt horrible all day, and spent it eating pizza, drinking water, and watching TV on my couch for like 12hours with my buddy.

The thing I love about poker is that I don't ever HAVE to play. I want a day off, a week off, a month off, whatever, I can do it. So I did. That is, until my buddy left.

I innocently checked my email to find that my old friend PartyPoker had decided to give me $25 dollars for free, just to try to lure me back to thier site (where I used to play quite a bit). I had no intentions of playing poker with the money, because the amount is almost neglible. So I logged on, and sat at the blackjack table with all of it.

$25 bet. I get dealt some a 13 vs. a ten. Blah, this is gonna be quick. I hit, and a magic 8 rolls off giving me 21. Up to $50, so I let it ride. I get dealt a 20 and it holds. Nice. Nothing else to do at this point but LET IT RIDE. $100 bet, and I get dealt a 13 vs a dealers 5. I stand, and the dealer turns over a jack, followed by another one. BUST. Sweet, so now I'm up to $200 and can probably do something with it.

That something is, of course, shortstacking $1000NL. The first hand I'm dealt is Ace-Ten, and some dude raises to $40. He gets a caller, so obviously I raise all in b/c it's fun. Everyone folds and I'm at like $300. I pick up another few small pots and find myself at ~$400. WHat now? Move up to $2000NL, obviously (10x my normal stakes).

Some dude opens to $75, and I have 44 on the button. I push all in, and everyone folds, so I'm up to $500. And then, it happens. The biggest pot I've ever been involved in. Enjoy:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (5 handed) internettexasholdem.com

SB ($726.50)
THE_MAIN ($497)
UTG ($2755)
MP ($5820.50)
Button ($2541)

Preflop: THE_MAIN is BB with Qs, Kc. SB posts a blind of $10.

UTG raises to $75, MP calls $75, 1 fold, SB (poster) calls $65, THE_MAIN raises to $497, UTG calls $422, MP folds, SB raises to $726.50, UTG calls $229.50.

OOPS!!!
Ok, so why did I move all in with KQo? Well it wasn't because I thought it was the best hand, this is somehting we call a squeeze play. When the intiial raiser puts in $75, he gets called by 2 other people. So, when I raise, I put tonnes of pressure on him. Not only does he have to worry about me, he also has to worry about the 2 guys who called behind him, who could have monster hands they are playing slowly. I also know that the guys calling behind could have anything as bad as suited connectors or small pairs, something that can not stand an all in raise. My goal is to just win the pot here, and take $250 in the middle. So yeah, ARRRRR IN BABY!!!

Flop: ($1950) 5h, 8h, 8d (3 players)
Turn: ($1950) 2c (3 players)
River: ($1950) 8s (3 players)

Final Pot: $1950

Results below:
SB has 9c 9d (full house, eights full of nines).
Hero has Qs Kc (three of a kind, eights).
UTG has 6s 6d (full house, eights full of sixes).

Yeah whatever, I lost. But wow, I had a tonne of outs!! (I should win this hand 38% of the time)Hahaha... I've lost more in one hand before, but this is the biggest pot I've ever played in. This short experience was a lot of fun, and very different from the day to day grinding I'm used to. If I had turned nothing into $1500 in those 30mins, that would've been pretty damn impressive. As it turns out, I was highly entertained at no cost to myself. :)

I'll check in with a mid month update in the next day or so with my numbers (spoiler: I'm breaking even)

Here's an article written by Huckleberry Seed of Poker Lab Rat

“If you’re attuned to your opponent’s moods, you’ll find opportunities to profit from their weakened states.”

I’m best known in the poker world for my tournament success. I’ve won four World Series of Poker bracelets, including the World Championship in 1996. With as much success as I’ve had in tournaments, however, I still prefer to spend most of my time in cash games. If I were to limit myself to tournaments, I’d miss out on some of poker’s most interesting aspects.

In tournaments, you’re constantly moving. The tournament director may move you so that he can balance tables, or your table may break. So, even if you’ve been attentive to your opponents’ tendencies, there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to exploit the information you’ve gained. In a cash game, however, you have far more time with a set of players. When I play a cash game in a casino, I might spend eight, 10, or 12 hours with the same group, so I have a longer time to study my opponents and exploit their weaknesses. If I’m going to be playing with the same people for hours, I can create a table image that will benefit me over the course of my session. For example, when I first enter a game, I might make a series of unprofitable plays - some strange bets or bluffs. These plays may lose me a little bit of money, but they affect how everyone thinks of me for the rest of the session. Even if I shift to a more solid mode of play, some players will retain the idea that I’m a nut case. In a tip I provided a few weeks ago, I showed how developing this sort of table image can be used to great effect by representing a bluff.
In a tournament, however, it’s tough to profit from that kind of persona. You can spend an hour getting everyone to believe you’re a maniac only to be moved to a table of complete strangers. At that point, your stack will be decimated and your image will have disappeared.

In cash games, you also have the chance to track your opponents’ mood shifts over time. At various points in a session, a player may get tired, frustrated or just go on tilt. If you’re attuned to your opponents’ moods, you’ll find opportunities to profit from their weakened states. In a tournament, you rarely get a chance to take advantage of someone else’s tilt. Usually, the hand that gets a player steaming also busts them from the tournament.

While tournaments can provide for some great action, playing them exclusively can limit your game. By branching out and playing cash games, you’ll develop a completely different set of poker skills and be able to explore some of the more interesting psychological aspects of the game.

The Poker Shrink - Vol 31 - Absolute Threshold and Signal Detection Theory

March 09, 2007
Dr. Tim Lavalli

Absolute threshold is a very specific psychological and sensory term. Absolute threshold refers to the smallest intensity of a stimulus that has to be present for the stimulus to be detected. The most common example of this involves sensitivity to heat. Think of an electric burner on a stove. You place your hand on the burner and then turn it on low. At first you won't feel anything because it is takes time for the coils to heat up. Eventually it will get warm enough for you to detect heat; there is some temperature that is just hot enough for you to notice it. In this case your absolute threshold is the point at which it is just hot enough for you to detect the presence of the heat. Now for someone else the absolute threshold could be higher or lower; sooner or later. In psychology such a variation in perception or feeling is referred to as a threshold.

A threshold simply implies that there are different levels of response or perception to certain stimuli, which varies among people. We all have different levels of response to heat, light, sound, color and dozens of other sensory inputs. Your particular response or perception of a stimulus is your threshold. It is possible to measure when you become aware of something and often your awareness precedes your conscious recognition of the stimulus. You know when someone says: "The noise from those fluorescent lights is driving me crazy." You hadn't even noticed the annoying buzz but now that someone has mentioned it, you can't stop hearing it. Did you actually not hear the noise before? Or was your absolute threshold for the noise reset?

OK, what's the application of absolute threshold to poker? Very simple. Your skills of observation at the table not only can be improved but can actually be reset. This means that you can detect and utilize more vital information from your opponents by resetting your threshold of awareness.

There is another interesting concept in psychology called signal detection theory which says that our ability to observe is not an absolute quantity but rather depends on situational and motivational factors. Simple example, you learn more about your poker table opponents when you are paying attention and are not tired, distracted or drunk. Seems obvious but wait there is something much more subtle and valuable to your game and your bankroll going on here.

Let's say that you are looking at the player in seat two when he tables his AKo to pick up a pot, which is to say you are watching the action instead of the cocktail waitress as she walks away from the table. Because you are watching the table, you also hear the player in seat seven say: "Played big slick a bit faster that time." And the seat two player responds: "Well I was in early position this time." Now you have three pieces of information instead of one and you have also reset your threshold to a higher level to receive more information. How?

Here is the point. Absolute threshold can be reset to receive more information ("to feel the heat sooner") simply by paying attention. Signal detection is enhanced by paying attention to more information and the ability to remember the information and access it later in the game is also increased by both paying attention and having more information available. Notice that nowhere have we mentioned remembering the information or storing the memory. In fact, studies have shown that with absolutely no attempt to increase memory or use any memory tricks whatsoever, an individual will recall more information simply by paying closer attention to events as they unfold. The additional information actually makes you more sensitive to more subtle clues you would have missed previously.

By resetting your thresholds higher, you remember more of what you see and hear even with no conscious effort on your part to save those memories. It is a proven function of threshold behavior that as you make more refined observations, you simply retain more information. The simply truth at the poker table is: 'Paying Attention Pays'.

Very proud to be a poker player at the moment:


Local charity cashes in on wager
'Robin Hood' of poker turns a dare into a way to help Children Inc.
BY BILL LOHMANN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Mar 3, 2007
Without playing a card, Children Inc. hit the jackpot.

Online poker players around the world have donated more than $20,000 to the Richmond-based charity this week, paying off a friendly wager among themselves. The money was still coming in yesterday.
"We are amazed and overjoyed at the response from the poker community," said CI spokeswoman Liz Sauer.
To some, the situation might seem a paradox: a charity founded by the daughter of a Presbyterian minister that distributes $4 million annually to more than 16,000 needy children around the world receiving money from gamblers. But CI officials said generosity is generosity and money is money -- and poker is legal -- so they are gladly accepting the contributions and will put them to good use.
"These people want to do something good, and we are happy to help them do something good," said Sauer, who noted the $20,000 would enable CI to sponsor 60 children for a full year.
The ringleader of this wave of bigheartedness is Barry Greenstein, a well-known poker player who has been dubbed the Robin Hood of poker for his custom of donating his tournament winnings to charity. Greenstein is no stranger to CI, which has been one of the beneficiaries of his generosity in the past decade. He's donated more than $1.5 million to the organization, according to his Web site. He also sponsors seven children through CI, said Sauer.
Greenstein's most recent largesse directed to CI began as a wager -- sort of a double-dog-dare-you -- among the 2+2 Forums online poker community (www.twoplustwo.com). If other players promised to make contributions to CI, Greenstein vowed to say "LOL donkaments" during a televised poker tournament. The phrase is an online expression that, according to a discussion board on the 2+2 Web site, pokes fun at the poor skill level of some tournament players by combining the words "donkey" and "tournament." In Internet lingo, LOL means "laugh out loud."
In an episode of "High Stakes Poker," aired Monday on GSN, Greenstein uttered the phrase. The money started rolling into CI on Tuesday morning.
"One of the [donation] process- ing ladies asked me, 'What's going on? We're being inundated with these donations, and they're all referencing Barry Greenstein,'" said Sauer. "I asked her how many did she have, thinking maybe five or10, and she held up a stack of papers."
So far, more than 200 donations have come in this week, ranging from $20 to $2,000, from across America and other places as farflung as Australia and Slovenia.
"We're just thrilled these people want to help our children," she said.
In an interview at www.pokerlizard.com, Greenstein said he got involved with CI as a result of "bad parenting."
"I had spoiled my kids and I was trying to show them that other kids aren't as fortunate as they are," said Greenstein, 52, a father of six who lives in California. "I wanted to sponsor a boy and a girl the same ages as my two youngest children."
He didn't care for the overtly religious approach of many charities feeding, sheltering and educating poor children around the world, but he liked CI, which, though clearly guided by Christian principles, is not religiously affiliated.
CI has "many religious people working for them, but that isn't their agenda," Greenstein said on Poker Lizard, adding that more people need to realize "you can have good morals and ethics even if you're not religious"

Source:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149193496884

The total is now something sick like $35k

What it do, bbv?

I wanted to share a quote that I came across this past week. I think it was from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, but I could be wrong. Anyways, it's not important.

I was a quote about life, but can definitely be applied to poker. Here's the gist of it:

If you can manage to not get too excited about your successes, you will be able to handle your failures with greater ease.

It's just about trying to stay neutral and expecting nothing so that you are unaffected by results. This is a great mentality for handling the ups and downs of poker.

A week without poker

I'm back from japan... and, well.... it's no Korea.

It was a really cool country from the little I experienced of it. We visited nara and kyoto, but spent the majority of our time within osaka.It was pretty easy to get around, using the subways and trains. Most signs were in english so it made things simple, for the most part.



The food was awesome, and probbaly the best thing about the trip. I stuffed my face 2-3 times a day, and all of it was delicious. From traditional japanese dishes to thier takes on western dishes, it was all great.



We had the actual illegal absynthe (legal in japan) with a high worm wood concentration. We ordered the most expensive one which was like $25 a glass because we figured we might as well do it right because we won't get another chance (I think it was French Absynthe). It's a wierd buzz... kinda like being high on alcohol, weed and caffeine all at the same time.




The clubs and bars were pretty weak in osaka, I have to say. Lonely planet led us to the most happening nitelife area there, and it was pretty dead. MInd you, this was a weekday, but still. On top of all this, drinks are super expensive and you'll be spending like $8/drink in most places. There are a lot of all you can drink places which ends up being much cheaper, but most are on weekends I think. This is what we did on friday night.

The night was just... weird. I wont go into details, but, there was a group of crossdressing foreingers there. Add this to some other drama, and it was...well....a weird ngiht.



Anyhow, on to better things: the best part of japan.... the women.

Oh.My.Lord.

I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with somehting that I've always said. There is no such thing as ugly women, only lazy ones. And these women are the furthest thing from lazy. The effort and attention to detail that goes into thier appearance is mind blowing. All the women get done up fully just to go to the convience store. Add this to the fact that they're generally more curvy then most korean girls, and you have a good combo. Even the punk or goth ones work so hard to pull of thier looks, it just works. I can't do them justice, so I'll stop. It's just something you have to experience.



The only other cool thing in osaka was the red light distrcit. It was fun to walk through, but is nowhere near as interesting to see as korea's.

Saturday was miron's bro's wedding. Unfortunatley I couldnt go to the ceremony, but the after party was great. Miron's bro found a good girl -- her and her parents took great care of us all while we were there.

I'm not sure what day we visited nara, but the place was cool. There are literally deer everywhere. I think some king or something 'imported' a few a long time ago and think just multiplied. I don't quite remmeber the story. It was fun to hang out with deer that were so tame though.




Kyoto was interesting too. One of the more unusual places we visited was adashino nembutsu-ji, which was a graveyard temple. We saw a lot of other little place there, but I wont go into details b/c you can all just research if youre interested. Kyoto was a very rich history. Most people just want to see the pics anyways, which I'll upload soon.









My biggest dissapointment was not getting to hang out with geisha. It was like $3k to hang out with a few for an evening. They are pretty scarce these days, and the number of them are really dropping. And the day we were in kyoto, it was raining, so there werent any wandering around. Oh well, next time I suppose.

I'd defintley visit again, especially because i still havnt seen tokyo. I may post some pics in a day or two.

And now I'm rested and ready to start grindin out these hands. Hopefully I can run good and play my best this month, and book a nice profit. Let us gogogo