Post Thanksgiving Update

Hi everyone! November has been a very exciting month for me and Jonathan. On halloween, I ended up chopping the $33k knockout on FTP for 11k. Jon drove to Biloxi with his friend, Dragon on Halloween. I met up with them a few days later after a very annoying and drama filled plane ride. In Biloxi, I bubbled 2 out of 3 tournaments I played, and did fairly well in cash games. Jon almost won a WSOP circuit ring. He ended up 2nd after going HU for the ring. He was dominated by hi opponent in chips, 5:1 so he would've had to double a few times to catch up. In any case, he did great! I am so proud of him. Harrah's is in a few weeks and I hope to cash in some tournies there as well.

Online the last few weeks has been a bit tough. I did final table three tournaments since Nov 1, but variance in general has not been on my side. Especially the last week- I feel like every flip I take, every time i have aa v kk i lose and then i get it in kk v aa, and lose, its just torture. But I will remain focused. I want so badly to finish the year at +100k net in poker; I have a lot of work to do to get that done (another 26k or so). I will let you know how I fare in this.

In other news, my niece Nicolette is such a little cutie pie, I love her so much. I go to see her as often as I can. Thanksgiving was wonderful- we spent it with Jon's family and then went to my family for dessert. Jon and I also spent a few days with my grandma, Nonna Carmela cooking and learning recipes- i liked that a lot. It was very nice to spend time with family. I like that Jon is close to his family like I am to mine.

Work has been busy; my partner Cesar got married this weekend- the day after thanksgiving. He will be away on his honeymoon, which means it will be a little busier for me. Jon and I went to look at a beautiful townhouse in Port Jefferson this weekend- I want it sooo soo bad. I really hope it is still on the market when our co-op finally sells. It may take a while.

That's it for now, hope you are all doing well.

xxxooo good luck at the tables!
Connie.

Happy Halloween! and...Its almost 2011!

My lack of blogging since August was due to an extremely busy schedule. Poker took a back seat in September to my business, and the birth of my cutie pie niece NICOLETTE ROSE....she is freakin adorable and such a munchkin. She was born on September 3, 2010 and is almost 8 weeks old now. Nicolette has dark black hair and beautiful brown eyes. I made a commitment to visit her at minimum, once a week. I love babysitting and spending time with my little puhsky cutie.

Work picked up a lot in September. I was twice as busy in September and October than I was June-August. So, I resigned myself to playing a little- small buy in tournies at night and sunday majors. In September, Jon and I played some of the Borgata events. We did well in cash games, and Jon won an entry for the Borgata main event. He made day 2 with the starting stack but lost a huge hand to bust in the middle of day 2.

In October, we took two trips to Foxwoods during the WPF. Jon made a final table in the $600 event. He played great. He told me some of his hands which he really outplayed his opponents; I was very proud of him. I min cashed the Ladies Event and had some great cash game sessions. I feel so good about my poker game. I really think I have been playing extremely well. On our first trip up to foxwoods, on Sun Oct 10, we played online in the room all night and I got 5th in the Sun 200k on UB- yeaaaa!!!!! I haven't had a 5 figure score online ALL YEAR. Before that, my biggest cash was $2800 in a UB nightly. It felt great. The next night, Mon Oct 11th, I got 4th in a $3 rebuy on stars- gd that thing lasted till 6am. I busted w 80 bbs against the maniac chip leader- we got it all in preflop my AQ sp v his three bet open ship w K6 os. I flopped top two and he runnered a flush w the Kd. I almost puked. I played extemely well though.

This week, Jon and I are going to Biloxi for some tournaments- I am excited to play in the south; I had a great time when I was in Tunica two years ago.

In other news, I have been doing a lot of thinking, and as the year comes to end, I can happily say that I am very content with my life. My business is great, I get to travel and play poker often, Jon and I have a wonderful relationship and my stress level is usually not too high. We have financially security, a beautiful apartment, and close family and friends, and a wonderful new edition to the family Little Nicoleete. I am really so greatful for everything I have.

For 2011, I would like to accomplish a few things. You know I am fond of my lists:
1. Continue and finish my grandmother's recipe book & publish for her;
2. Start family geneology book;
3. Scrapbook all my memory stuff;
4. Lose 20-30 lbs;
5. Play WSOP Main Event & go to Vegas for one month;
6. Sell apartment and move to townhouse;
7. Take photography seriously;
8. Start up the Undercover Gourmet blog Jon and I started.

That's all for now. I hope you all have a very Happy Halloween. I am wearing my Phishy Witch costume from last year and spending the day with Nicolette. The cutie pie is going to be A Pea in a Pod. So adorable!!!!!!
Good money and peace!!!!!!
Love Garnet.

Summer Round Up

Hi all! Summer is coming to an end. Poker has been extremely uneventful the last month or so. Jon and I made one Foxwoods & one Borgata trip in July. Borgata turned out to be a 1 day, -2k annoying poker trip, that resulted in more driving time than playing time- good job Connie & Jon. Haha. The week after, we traveled to Foxwoods. The trip started out rough. Jon and I deficited the first two days in cash. Then, on the third day, Jon made a bunch in cash, and I won a small daily tourney for 2k. We met Jon's family up there for the weekend and had a very good time. Unfortunately, I had to make an emergency dentist visit up there bc of a tooth infection, but I was glad when the pain was gone. Another bonus is I found a new dentist- even though he is in Conn, its worth it. He was very good and professional. We ended up doing well for the trip in total, after expenses and all.

Online has been rough. I have not final tabled a multi table tournament since...hmmm....since a long time ago. Jon is doing well in sngs and sats, but we are experiencing the downside to mtts in the last several weeks. Its part of the lifestyle- we just need to ride it out until the tide turns. The difference between me and Jon and other full time poker players who mtt online for a living is that Jon and I do not play volume. Combined, we may play 35-40 tournaments a week. That's not much, and for me, its been much less in last few months due to my business. However, as I always say, great players rise to the top and I know Jon's skills will be shown in a large cash soon.

On other fronts, my sister is having a baby! She is due in 2 weeks and I am so excited to be an aunt. I love little babies- they are so cute and cuddly and fun to be around. It will be nice to have a baby in the immediate family. I think my parents have given up hope for me- I am not even married, let alone ready to pop out a grandkid for them =)

Also, Jon and I started a new blog- http://www.gourmetratings.blogspot.com/. The blog is titled "Undercover Gourmet" and focuses on food. Specifically, it is a review of restaurants, bars, gourmet supermarkets, farmers' markets, etc that Jon and I frequent. I think it will be fun and interesting to grade the places we go and keep a record of what we like/dislike. Also, Jon is such a critic, especially as one of his biggest hobbies is cooking. And Im a huge pain when I go out to eat- I ask for modifications galore. So, between the two of us, we are good at testing a restuarant's capabilities and quality. Check out our new blog if you have time. Also, we would like others' inputs- so if you want to blog about a bar or restaurant, please let us know and we will post it.

That's all for now. Jon and I are making a trip to Foxwoods next week, and then we are going to Schroon Lake in upstate NY with family the following week. I will try to update more often! Good money and peace readers,
xxoo
Garnet.

Day 2 of Venetian DS and Final Table

I started the day with 19 bbs. I raise early with aq and take it down. Go through blinds. My table was all a about reraising and three bet shoving. I raise utg +1withAJhh to 21k with 90k behind with absolutely no plan of what to do if I get shipped on. Mr. tightey shaking hands on button re- raises to 50k with 100k behind, which screams monster.

I hate the spot I put myself in. I know I am behind. However I felt like I should go with this hand and hoped to get lucky- maybe he has 88-10s (probably not). I reluctantly shipped after tanking and got snapped by KK. Lucky me and there was an ace in the window -I doubled to over 200k. I got moved shortly after this. I had about 24bbs and chose to 3 bet all in whenever I found a spot instead of just reraising. There was one particular hand where I was at 295k. Utg tight raised to 30k with 110k behind. I had AKsp. I was utg +2. I shipped. Folds to utg who tanks and folds qq. Omg. He said he was sure I had aa. Wow We broke to 2 tables.

After I got moved, I lost one pot and then was super card dead + I was at super aggro table. I got ground down to 7.5 bbs. I felt annoyed and handcuffed however remained focused. I picked up 77 in the bb. The action folded to mp, a scandi kid who was obviously frustrated but had a real hand here. It didn't matter. He raised 3xbb. I shipped w 77. He called a akss. Flop was aa....7 ! Wow! And I held. Up to 300k. After that hand I went on ten min heater and took someone out. I went to the final table w 1.1million on chips and lots of confidence.

FINAL TABLE

My strategy going to most final tables is to play supertight and let players knock each other out. Therefore anyone who knows me would be completely shocked to learn I was all in 4x in first 1.5hours LOL Here is a description of final tble:

(S = seat)

S1 me 1.1 mil.

clS2 Robert Varkonyi 600k

S3 Richard from uk talented player. Outclassed much of the table;

S4 Bruce from FL. 1.5mill

S5- german aggro

S6 unknown solid tight

S7 unknown super tight

S8 asian aggro solid (l

S9 Canadian kid solid but made big mistakes

S10 older tight guy.

I raised once an orbit for a little while and chippped up a bit. I knew I had a slight "I'm trying to be aggro bc I'm CL image". It happened that I raised two hands in a row and took down pots pf. A few hands later I pick up QQ utg+1. I raise to 105k. Blinds 20k 40k. I have 1.4 mill. English kid re raises to400k with 750k behind. I'm annoyed bc I know I'm racing with ak and wanted to avoid this situation. However English guy was very aggro. In this spot, I knew he knew I had a real hand and I knew he had a hand he was going with- I most likely put him on 10s jj aq or ak.

I thought for a bit And shipped. He made a face, was not happy but called with AK. Board ran out with two A A and now image short. Sigh and now I am super short with 260k = 6.5 bbs.

I pick up AK utg nrxt hamd and put my 260k in. Vark calls w 600k behind. Tight s6 is all in.

Vark folds77. My opp has k k. Flop is nothing. Ace on turn! 7 on river LOL thank goodness vark folded. I am back to 800k after that hand. We lose a player next hand-aggro kid in s5.

The very next hand. I am in sb. Richard (english kid) raises to 105k utg. S8 smooths and button smooths I look down at two tens. I tank. I have 20 bbs. I'm not worried about Richards opening range with a raise utg but I am worried that the asian kid smoothed with a monster. Tight on button I know is folding if I ship. This is such a good spot too bc I'm much stronger than I normally would be here and it looks like a squeeze so Asian might call me with two 77-99. In his range is also jj though. And over last two days I was at two different tables and bc he's aggro I thought he would re raise with aa kk qq and aa almost 100% of the time.

So I shoved.

Utg folded, Asian insta called and button tank folded. Asian had AK! Ugh. But utg folded an Ace and button folded AK also! I held and I'm over 2 million and have the cl again. Nice roller coaster. Those were the biggest hands at the final table. When we were 6 handed, I lost a sizeable pot to vark with aj v his qt. I flopped top top and he turned a straight. I couldve found a fold to his shove on the turn but I played the hand in such a way that I felt committed on the turn. In any case, vark and I switched stacks after that. I had 900k and he had 2 mill. After I said nh and shipped my chips- and I Did so very unemotionally and professional- he turns to me and says I was hoping we would be hu with you in this. I literAlly laffed out loud and said I still have 900k im not out yet LOL.

I built and built. We got down to 3 handed. Literally second hand of 3handed play s6 who was left with me and vark ships his cl stack into me. I was bb. I had 99 and snap called. He had a7os and I held. Vark finished him off in the next twenty minutes. Then vark and I decided to do a chip eqity chop which worked out great for me. It was almost an even chop but vark had 2/3 of the chips in play. I felt great after that final table. Renewed my belief in poker and my confidece was 100% regained.

On to play Sunday tournaments today! Good luck and more Vegas stories to come shortly (including Jon's deep run in event #54 and his unlucky satellite runs).

Good money and peace,

Garnet.

June 10-11th Venetian $560 Recap of Day 1...

June 10th started out brutal. 590 players entered the tournament. My table played 3 and 4 handed for first 1.5 levels. This was at the 50-100 level and 75-150 level. I was running over the table and built from 15k to 18.5k. Then the following hand came up. A weird, what appeared to be, tight player limped utg. But, we are playing 4 handed. He had played hardly any hands. I pick up JJ on the button. I raise to 325(it was 50-100). He is only caller. Flop is 8 2 3. He checks I bet 550and he check raises to 1550. I probably shouldve folded right there. However, the posibility of my opponent holding 99 1010, 77 and my aggro image all factored into my callining his raise in position. Turn was 3. He checked and I checked. River was a 4. He bet 3k. What the f was I doing? His check on the turn tells me he has 88 full 22 full, or kwad 33s. There is 0% chance I have the best hand on the river. Nonetheless, I called the 3k river bet and saw his 88, for eights full. I was like, nh sir. I was shocked by his limp utg with 88 in a four handed game. Interesting. Luckily, this was the only big pot I lost on day 1. After this hand, I was down to 11k. Although I did not lose any more big pots, it was a reallly reallly reallly long time before I won a big pot.

After the 88 full to my jj hand, I went completely card dead. In the next 4 hours, I raised perhaps 3 or 4x and got 0 action on my few hands that I raised with. At one point I was down to 7400 with the blinds 150-300. I picked up 9 t diam in the sb. It folded to me (first time ever, by the way..my table was weird aggro). I raised to 850 pf and the bb called. Now, the bb and I had some history, however his game was very obvious. He ALWAYS defended and he ALWAYS bet everytime it checked to him. it was excellent. So the flop is T 3 5. I c bet 1400 he calls. Turn is rag. I check. He bets 1600, I check ship all in and he insta mucks. That brought me back over 10k. I was happy about that hand because I think I extracted max value based upon my read and my opponent's spewiness.

About an hour later, blinds at 200 400, I get ground down to 7800 again, and this aggro woman on my right raises to 1100. I saw her play her hands post flop very well, however her preflop raising range was extremely HUGE . She was playing preflop as if she was in a weak-tight cash game that she could run over. She was in middle pos. I was next to act and look down at ak sooted. I reraise to 6150. It folds to her and she insta calls. She is not even looking at my stack or any other dynamics of the hand. The reason I reraised with chips behind is because I thought it looked stronger. And, even though she won't fold, if she completely wiffs, with 1700 behind, she may even fold some hands (based on her weirdness) on the flop. The flop came down K 2 3 rainbow. She checks. I ship my little itty bitty stack and shes like I guess I call and turns over 56 dd. I mean wtf is going on? It was a very strange hand. Luckily I won the pot and was back over 15k, for the first time since level 1.

A little later on, right before the dinner break, I am at 17, 500 and the blinds are 400- 800. I am satisfied with how I am playing. I may be playing a little close to the cuff, however I have a comfortable stack and my goal is to get to the dinner break and re-energize before I decide on revising my strategy. Our friend with 88 from earlier raises in middle position to 2200. The guy on his left with a big stack calls. The button calls (aggro, weird woman).

On a side note, after the 88 hand, our friend has played hands crazy. He bluffed me off 99 by check raising w 34 os on a kj3 board and showing. I obviously couldnt call his check raise, however 99 is one of the only hands I am comfortable betting the flop and folding to a check raise. The truth is, I probably made a mistake c-betting that flop, however I had been playing so tight that I thought my image lent itself to representing a big hand by betting. Sometimes I forget image means very little to some opponents. In any case, I no longer categorize 88 guy as super tight. He is now in loose-aggro- makes-bad bluffs -slow plays to death guy. And I know that he remembers me folding to his check raise and my jj v. his 88, so I feel like, in some ways, he is gunning for me a bit- trying to beat the "girl" at the table. It was definitely part of my vibe from him.

Back to the current hand-I am in bb facing his raise w two callers. I look down and see two black kings. My initial thought was to reraise for value but I decided to shove after two things occurred to me. 1. Mr. 88 has 40k and I know will call my ship pretty light (bc he thinks I am squeezing) and might also isolate light, and 2. if I reraise small, I expect to get too many callers. I ship it all in, and as expected, mr. 88 insta reships. Both opponents behind fold. He tables AJ os and is shocked that I have KK, but makes a comment that "its such an obvious squeeze, that I have to reshove ur all in there." I responded "yes i understand how it seems like a squeeze." And in my head, I was like, thank you sir for shipping.

Board ran out low and I am over 35k after this hand. Incidentally, thanks to his re-ship, he got the other big stack to fold 44 (that would've flopped a set), who may have folded anyway, but his iso play gave me great protection.

The rest of the night, I coasted. I made a few big lay downs, but other than that, I ended day 1 with 149k, which was about 20 bbs. 31 players made it to day 2. I will post day 2 hands either tonight, or tomorrow.

Please give me your thoughts, opinions, etc.

xxoo

Good money and peace,

Garnet.

Summer 2010: Re-Vegas

Hi all! I haven't posted in 2 months, shocker. I am the worst with consistent blogging. Its very funny. When I had a full time job and was bored out of my mind back in 07, 08- I would blog, once twice and sometimes three times a day. As I moved away from the conventionalities of a normal, 9 to 5 life, and into the self employed/poker player life I love, my blogging has dwindled significantly. Enough ramblings of nothing....

SO, poker has been extremely consistent for Jon since January 1. On the first of the year, Jon won the 50-50 on FTP for 11k. On the 1st of February, he won the 50 50 again. In March and May, he had a few more five figure cashes on line. On the other end of poker variance, I started out the first 2.5 months deficiting significantly. And my deficit was without significant volume. My attention has been focused on my business, and even with a 15-20 hour a week poker schedule, I still managed to deficit badly.

In May, things turned around. I final tabled the 32k on full tilt, I got a step 10 on UB, I cashed in several tournament and I felt great about my game. Vegas was up in the air until the very end of May- there was a very ill family member, some other family obligations and some work stuff tying us down. On May 30th, after things settled down and I was able to delegate my work to some other attorneys, Jon and I booked our Vegas trip. We were out there from June 4-June 14. It was awesome. I had two cashes- a min cash at Venetian and I chopped one of the $500 with Robert Varkonyi. Although he is a well known player, I don't view him as a particular tough opponent. There was an English young guy sitting to his right named Richard. He was so nice and funny, very relaxed, and a relatively tough opponent. I was fortunate that the few aggro, Europeans and one american were knocked out early. I had a few key hands It was a roller coaster final table. I will do my best to blog about it separately. I was chipleader-shortstack-chilpleader in a series of four hands. Craziness.

Jon did very well in Vegas also. He final tabled a Venetian $500 as well and placed 7th for a decent 7k cash. He had a few difficult hands at the final table, however he played amazing.

Overall, I have to admit that Jon is my main poker teacher. I think I have a natural ability at the game and hand reading has always been my strongest attribute, but Jon has helped me refine my game and really grasp the nuances. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful mentor, bff and boyfriend - all wrapped in one!

Oh, on a side note-I don't know if you guys remember a blog I did from last summer (its in archives if you would like to read it), but at Venetian there was this woman who brought her god damn bird into the poker room and the thing was dancing in the middle of our 2-5 NL game. Scared the shizit out of me. Anyways, I could never forget that woman. So I am railing Jon at the final table, and I hear, oooohhh hoooonnnney, is dat yor boyfwiend dere? I turn around and there, 1 foot away from me is the tall skinny, large breasted asian woman with the bird. So I said, I remember you, you own like 12 birds right? She cackled and said oh yes, dey are my baabbieeessss. Then she said, I can't see, lemme get closer and proceeded to push her breasts against my arm as she strained to see the final table. This woman has 0 concept of personal space. It was hilarious and uncomfortable all in one.

Ok readers, I will be back with more. Jon and I are leaving for Vegas on June 29th and we return (allegedly) on July 7th. Will update when I can, I promise =)

Good money and peace,
Garnet.

Life Observations

Spring is here. Once again, I have broken a New Year's resolution to blog each week. You know me- my blogging goes in spurts. Life is good. Very good. I started the first two months of the year with a $6000 overall deficit, and I am just about even now. I have been up in satellites and sngs consistently, however multi tables have tortured me. I am still down significantly in mtts, but the profit in sngs and sats have assisted with sustaining my online funds.

A rough start no doubt, however my focus has been elsewhere, and therefore my volume has been much lower than usual. My business, on the other hand, has exploded. My goals remain steady: start a law practice with my partner, and then split my time between poker and law. Last year, more than 50% of my attention was on poker; this year, more than 50% of my attention has been on my legal practice. As we move toward summer, I am wondering if I will attend the Borgata Spring & Summer Opens, the WSOP, or travel at all for poker.

The answer is I don't know. Every week is unknown, and to some extent, full of spontaneity. Traveling for poker depends on my bankroll, on my court schedule, on how busy my practice gets. It is what it is. Would I love to be playing live poker every day without a care in the world? Of course! Living in Vegas for 2 months last summer was simply amazing. I loved the excitement of playing live. Online is so tedious and monotonous, and such a grind at times. Yet, this is me and Jon's way of life. The majority of our bankroll is earned from playing online and this is something I constantly have to remind myself. Truthfully, other than perhaps wanting to be a happy billionaire, I would not change a thing in my life. It is awesome.

In other poker news, I became a member of PPI, an agency for poker players. Check out their site at http://www.pokerplayersinternational.com/. I think it was a good decision to apply for membership. There are certain criteria that must be met, and I was lucky to make the second tier team, based upon my results and poker experience. You never know when a sponsorship opportunity may present itself, or an affiliation, and its smart to be affiliated with a reputable agency.

In general, as of a few weeks ago, my mtt results have improved significantly. I made two final tables on UB, I went deep in several full tilt tournaments, and I have played bigger buy ins based upon my succcess in satellites. Additionally, I am still collecting step 8 tickets and will be playing for step 9s soon. I hope to turn my step 8s into at least 2 wsop packages. I will keep you posted, as best I can =)

Ok readers, good luck at the tables, and good money and peace.

Garnet.