When U Feel Down About Poker &/or Life...

I am multi tabling right now, but I just wanted to share this tidbit with you:

When I am aggravated about poker or players, I listen to "Lowlife" by Kidrock. A friend of mine, Tater H0 on Ub, just forwarded me this link...this is great too to add some laughter to your life:

http://www.fmylife.com/top hilarious!

Good money all, I have lots of good stuff to post soon!

Lucky C.

A New Era...

I predicted a while ago, that Jon's time in poker was "just around the corner." I also stated that we were both "on the cusp" of great things. It is coming together. Since January, both Jon and I have run incredibly well. I don't have bad runs as severe as Jon, but I have been running extremely well as of late. I think this elongated 'good run' also signifies our improved play/abilities. As poker players, it is a well known concept that if you are a learning player, a skilled player, talented and eager, in essence, it all comes down to "a matter of time". This is Jon's time. It is well over due, and far more deserved than ever. As I speak, Jon is on to day 2 tomorrow of the Borgata Deep Stack, he is currently 5th in chips for the players who remain from day 1A. Anything can happen- he may final table, bust with a minimal cash or bust before he cashes, but one thing is for certain, he played his best yesterday and he so deserves to be 5th in chips. Check out the blog: http://borgatapoker.blogspot.com/2009/03/official-day-1a-chip-counts.html. I wish I was down there to root him on, but I will be there on Tuesday, if he makes it to day 3. I have every confidence that he will play phenomenally and whatever happens happens.

Speaking of Jon's coming into his own in poker, he won the 200k on UB last Sun. Sorry it took me a week to post, I have been ill. As Cardplayer described, it was his second 1st of his career. I am so proud of him, my heart is overflowing. If you every have the opportunity to meet Jon, you will come to know him as a sweet, nice, caring person, who just never has a bad word to say about anyone and who would go to the ends of the earth for his friends and family. This is not me speaking as his girfriend (ok, maybe a little =) ), but also as someone who knew Jon long ago, before we started dating, and was told by many third parties, how nice and good he was. I am so happy to see a good hearted, loving, genuinely nice poker player be so successful - especailly when they are my boyfriend.(as you can also tell, I hate when scumbags win, lol).

There are so many exciting things coming up for Jon and I this year. We will be going to Vegas for the WSOP May-July, and we will be flying to Vegas in April to look at properties out there. We are seriously considering the purchase of a condo/townhouse out there, since we plan to travel there several times a year, and perhaps move eventually. We will also be at Foxwoods this week coming up, so I am sure I will have stories/hands from that trip.

Speaking of hands, I have two from the Borgata 50k guaranteed this past Friday (I somehow managed to final table and get 5th place after bobbing and weaving for literally 10 hours). First hand: Blinds are 100 200 with an ante. UTG raises to 700 chips with 6500 behind. I call with pkt 55 in late position with 7500 or so, and button calls. Flop is A 3 5 rainbow. UTG shoves for 6500 (pot is approx. 2500, lmao by the way), I snap, and button folds, he has Aj os, have a nice day sir, nice not to sweat when he is drawing dead on the turn. It is unbelievable how people play, sick isnt it. I then played more aggressively (after cultivating a tight image, if that was worth anything) and built up to 28k. I then got moved to another table, with about 110 people left, started with close to 200. I get to my new table, blinds are 200-400 w 50 ante. After witnessing a few hands, I decide that I am going to play aggressively and raise/fold, no limping. This table is too weak to limp. So after raising and winning a few nice pots at show down, I have about 35k the following hand comes up. 97ss utg +2. I raise to 1150 three players call. 5k about in pot. Flop is A Q 6 with two spades. I check call the button (deep stack player, I think CL at table) 2500 that he bet on the flop. Pot is now 10k. Turn is 6 diam. I want to setthe price of the spade draw, bc I give him any ace here, and I dont believe I will get check raised unless I am drawing dead. So, I bet 5k, he hesitates and calls. River is 5 sp. Now i have flush on a paired board, but bc my hand is so hidden and I beleive I have the best hand, I value bet 7500 (pot is 20k), and also, I can only get raised by a better hand, I cannot check call a big bet and lose. So he tanks. I am convinced my flush must be good. He finally calls. I show my hand and he flips A 10 sp! I almost fell out of my chair in shock. After the hand, apparently it appeared to several players that I had qq for a full house. Dudes, more power to you for giving me that much credit. Considering that I was nearly drawing dead on the flop, I lost the minimum on that hand, lmao. It was a crazy hand. Very rarely do I believe I have the best hand on five cards, and I am incorrect (not being obnoxious, but as you can see from the first hand, how bad players play in the 50k guar at borgata...i mean that tourney is a $340 buy in, a complete shit show). As my dad pointed out, to a majority of those players, the tournament is just a $340 "shot", money they would blow in 10 min at the black jack table or 2 minutes in a slot machine. I made the final table with 2 very good players and the rest were just idiots. One player in particular, Steve B from NJ, who has turned pro, has been a player I have been aquainted with for over 5 years. He has gotten really good. He travels pretty often, and he and I, for the most part stay out of each other's way. He made a sick fold when we were 12 handed. He raised and i shoved JJ, and he folded 10s, sick fold. He was kind of odded into calling, but it was a good portion of his stack, and it turned out to be a sick fold. he knows I am not shoving on him unless i believe I have the best hand, or at least Ak and he is in a tuff spot with 10s there. It was a good lay down. I ended up folding 88 6 handed at the table, to a guy who raised 5 bbs on the button. I was in sb with 8 bbs. My gut was to shove. However, there was no fold equity, my table was so weak so that I could just get chips by open shipping, and finally, the last bunch of times this dude raised more than 4 bbs, he had a monster. I folded and he showed me JJ! Laydown of the day, I swear. If I shipped there, I would've cashed for 1k instead of close to 4k.

Anyway, that's all for now. I still have the hand histories from Tunica saved, I will post soon- I know, the promise that never comes through, but it will, for sure!

Oh, also, if any of my readers want to send me their email (my email is cmrinaldi@hotmail.com), I am going to start sending auto email when I post on the blog, so you will be notified when I post. I also want to get to know people who read this ( I know about 20 people, but there are many of you who tell me at the tables/on facebook that you read my blog, and I would like to get to know you better!).

Good money and peace,

Lucky C and Ace.

The Perfect Balance in Tournament Poker

Recenty, Jon and I were discussing various hands in tournament poker. I explained plays that I observed in Timburt's game last night and other players at his table (Timburt got 2nd in 30k gooo Tim, congrats!). We analyzed hands, talked about the different thought processes behind them, the way players at other levels think, etc.

I also confided in Jon that I felt I was playing a bit too aggressively in the last two weeks, and at times, it is difficult to find the perfect speed. My aggression does not stem from playing a large quantity of hands; rather when I decide to play a hand, it is goin to be a very big pot. For ex, yesterday I had AK ss in position, (at 75150, middle of tourney), facing an utg raise and caller in front of me. I had approximately 30 bbs, however, any reraise I made committed me to playing for 2/3 of my stack, if utg shoved all in. I knew utg was an O.K., fairly tight player, and the caller in between was a station. Because I have position with a decent stack, is it appropriate to call here and play post flop, or do I reraise and be committed to utg's shippage? There are a few factors to consider. By calling, if I miss the flop, I will have lost only 3x bb and preserved my stack. On the flip side, if i reraise pre and my opponents fold, and I take it down, I gain 7.5 bbs, and add more than 25% to my stack. Alternatively, if i reraise pre, get shoved on by utg, and end up winning the hand, I more than double up, thus giving me a nice working stack and top 5 chiplead with 150 or so players left out of 300- if I lose, I have less than 10 bbs, and am looking to get it in to double back to where I was. Considering the options, and without being results oriented, I think that the reraise is appropriate. I do not want to play AK suited that softly to smoothy on the button, possibly bring in the blinds and play a 5 way pot. If the blinds were smaller, such as in the early stages of the tourney, I exercise more pot control and just call. However, given my options I like my re raise. Most online professionals would likely advise that it is almost always appropriate to 3 bet AK, yet that is a volume, and therefore, hi variance mentatility. While I play many hours online, I do not super multi table. At most, I play 3-4 screens at once, but usually only 2.

So, my aggression has been slightly problematic, combined with the fact that my hands have not been surviving on five cards in crazy situations, to cause me to have a 21 non cash online tourney streak, with the exception of 3 to 4 minor cashes and no final tables.

What Jon and I concluded, based upon our discussion of hands played by third parties, and ourselves is this. Tournament poker is about losing your fear. Yet, one must not lose their discipline. Loss of fear and discipline causes reckless, insane play without any thought as to stack preservation or opponents' image. Maintaining fear and discipline will result, most likely, in being forced to play a short stack in the middle/late stages of the tourney and the player is now looking to get lucky to double. Losing fear and maintaining discipline is the ideal combination to succeed in tournament poker. As a skilled player, if you have hand reading abilitites, can play well post flop, and are willing to trust your reads, you can accumulate chips by making moves and trusting your reads, while being disciplined enough to not get caught up on a move, not bluff your stack away, and make unemotional, intelligent decisions.

Another example of such fear is a hand I played on the tourney bubbled last week. I hadn't cashed in a few tournaments and was playing rather timidly on the bubble. My goal at that point was cashing. I had 30 big blinds, was comfortable and playing well when I picked up JJ utg, two from the money. I almost open mucked just to guarantee a cash. Then I was like, am i nuts? And raised 2.7 bbs. One caller, all else fold. Flop is 5 6 8 all sp. I have two red jj. I check to exercise pot control. My opponent bet 5k into 8600 pot, i felt he was bluffing. We had almost the exact same stack. But I decided, im out of pos without any redraws, I will call and if a scare card comes on the turn, i can make my decision there. Turn is Qc, which I thought was a great card to bet. I could get my opponent to fold A8 pkt 77, a draw, etc. However, if I got raised I would have to fold, so I decided to be safe and check. My opp checked behind. River is 9 c. I checked and my opponent thought for a bit and shipped 25k. Pot is less than 20k and I had 24k in front of me. I was like what? The little voice in the back of my head whispered, he would never bluff on the tourney bubble, he is not that player, and instead I said f it and called. He had pkt 99 for a rivered set and I finished 47/300 something for a bubble two from the money. I think I played that hand as poorly as anyone can play a hand and I recognize that. But it reminds me that while I was comfortable and playing well, my bubble strategy was discumbobulated- a pure disorganized mess. I was not focused, I changed my plan for the pot on each street, which is not disciplined. I invoked fear on the flop and no fear on the river when it should've been the other way around. Granted, he might not have folded the flop, but at least it would've been a more appropriate play.

On a non-poker note, I am in <3>

I started writing the blog with my hand histories from tunica and my f***ing battery died on my IPOD where all my notes are. I will continue composing the entry and publish soon.

Jon and I are heading to Atlantic City for some WSOP circuit events at Cesars. Will let you know how it goes, I am excited to play live cash!

Good money and peace!

Lucky C and Ace.