Quitting until the new year.. maybe even longer. Poker's not fun anymore, and I don't have the patience to try and make it enjoyable.

Bye everyone.

Ate a bad river to bust in $5 razz. NHGG. Sigh.

Monkey tilted my entire BR down to $36, tilted it onto a 25/50c table and monkeytilted back up to $80.55 for the night. GG me. I live to fight another day (SOMEHOW)

Scream.

I busted with AQ vs AJo, the guy, fairly LAGgro, opens for 3k with the blinds at 300/600/50. I snap shove with AQ, he snaps me off and goes runner runner flush. Caps off a day of being card dead, having KK run into KK to chop, and AA doubling me up once from 3k to 7k. Other than that, I spent 4 hours folding. Sigh.

Always another tournament....

I already know who won the 2009 WSOP main event. I'm watching it on Youtube, but I knew a few hours after the table played out who won. 2010 most likely won't be a year that sees me in that tournament again, maybe 2011 if the cards play themselves right.

That being said, I've been mulling over the cards themselves lately, and contemplating what I might do in 2010.

Earlier this year, after a long string of tournament disappointment, I thought about buying into the BC Poker Championship main event. After realizing I couldn't get the time off my day job to play it, I decided that I'd take a large wad of cash to Vegas with my brother to celebrate his 21st birthday. But, I began thinking a little further, and I realized that I might want to think very strongly about making a big deposit on Pokerstars and starting to grind cash games after work, and most of the weekends. The idea would be to work at building a bankroll that could potentially support me to play poker professionally. I'm definitely going to make this deposit though. If I can keep my cool, and play the game that I want to play, I'll be fine.

There was a period of time this month that I was running really well. My brother and my friend jokingly drafted a business venture; drain my blood and sell it to emokids, as "the blood of the luckiest man alive." While I laughed, it got me thinking, was I really getting that lucky, or was I making good decisions and getting myself into situations where I didn't need to get lucky constantly to come from behind to win.

To be perfectly fair, it was a little of both. To be even more fair, I melted down and got off my game plan, losing back the entire pile of winnings I earned in a 2 week period, in a single night.

In 2 days, I play the $550 event of the BCPC. I'm pretty confident that if I play a really solid game, I'll make day 2, and be able to make a real run at the money.

Next time you hear from me will be whenever I get home from Day 1, either after I bust, or tag and bag my chips.

Transcript for your last 1 games requested by InanimateJ (inanimate_animation@hotmail.com)

*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #34013258963: Tournament #202479286, $1.00+$0.10 USD Razz Limit - Level XII (1000/2000) - 2009/10/13 23:08:05 PT [2009/10/14 2:08:05 ET]
Table '202479286 6' 8-max
Seat 1: hysterical2 (8420 in chips)
Seat 2: Ralfo (40170 in chips)
Seat 3: InanimateJ (20350 in chips)
Seat 4: PocketSloths (23345 in chips)
Seat 5: PermBurglar (32285 in chips)
Seat 6: GerasimInt (4520 in chips)
Seat 8: 1NightShade3 (7130 in chips)
hysterical2: posts the ante 100
Ralfo: posts the ante 100
InanimateJ: posts the ante 100
PocketSloths: posts the ante 100
PermBurglar: posts the ante 100
GerasimInt: posts the ante 100
1NightShade3: posts the ante 100
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to hysterical2 [5h]
Dealt to Ralfo [Ad]
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d As 4d]
Dealt to PocketSloths [7c]
Dealt to PermBurglar [6s]
Dealt to GerasimInt [8h]
Dealt to 1NightShade3 [8c]
GerasimInt: brings in for 300
1NightShade3: folds
hysterical2: folds
Ralfo: raises 700 to 1000
InanimateJ: raises 1000 to 2000
PocketSloths: folds
PermBurglar: folds
GerasimInt: folds
Ralfo: calls 1000
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to Ralfo [Ad] [2d]
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d As 4d] [2c]
Ralfo: bets 1000
InanimateJ: raises 1000 to 2000
Ralfo: raises 1000 to 3000
InanimateJ: raises 1000 to 4000
Betting is capped
Ralfo: calls 1000
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to Ralfo [Ad 2d] [Qh]
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d As 4d 2c] [Qs]
Ralfo: bets 2000
InanimateJ: raises 2000 to 4000
Ralfo: raises 2000 to 6000
InanimateJ: raises 2000 to 8000
Betting is capped
Ralfo: calls 2000
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to Ralfo [Ad 2d Qh] [Td]
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d As 4d 2c Qs] [Tc]
Ralfo: bets 2000
InanimateJ: raises 2000 to 4000
Ralfo: raises 2000 to 6000
InanimateJ: raises 250 to 6250 and is all-in
Betting is capped
Ralfo: calls 250
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d As 4d 2c Qs Tc] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ralfo: shows [4h 6h Ad 2d Qh Td 7h] (Lo: 7,6,4,2,A)
InanimateJ: shows [3d As 4d 2c Qs Tc Ah] (Lo: T,4,3,2,A)
Ralfo collected 41500 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 41500 | Rake 0
Seat 1: hysterical2 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Ralfo showed [4h 6h Ad 2d Qh Td 7h] and won (41500) with Lo: 7,6,4,2,A
Seat 3: InanimateJ showed [3d As 4d 2c Qs Tc Ah] and lost with Lo: T,4,3,2,A
Seat 4: PocketSloths folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 5: PermBurglar folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: GerasimInt folded on the 3rd Street
Seat 8: 1NightShade3 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)




HOW DO YOU EVEN THINK YOUR 642A IS GOOD THERE, WHY ELSE WOULD I BE JAMMING EVEN WHEN I HAVE THE SAME UPCARDS AS YOU, YOU STUPID FUCKING SHITFACED ASSHAT.

god i hate poker.

( Momentum swing! )

Okay, so, I don't know what he stands pat with after drawing one and calling down to the end then folds my end bet. I was honestly expecting to get called and go to showdown, but this chipped me back up to even with him again.

( When you get dealt the pat nuts, you gotta try and let them fish. )

That's the ONLY way I get value there, by letting him draw down to the end and calling a value bet. Such a sick deal too.

( The power of the bet. )

Sometimes I get called and lose, but I'd been showing enough strong hands and not splashing around in pots that I could get away with that bet there.

The Montanan said, "K"
InanimateJ said, "UL, i hit 97"

Yes I lied. He doesn't have to know.

( Another momentum hand. )

Again, I check behind on the end after he stands pat, 96 isn't a strong drawing hand so I pat/check for showdown value. It works.

( Momentum KILLER. )

Ouch. There isn't a lot I can do there except barf call the end. His range with the 9s makes me want to call there, even though the line is so strong. It eliminated my chip lead, putting all 3 stacks around the same size (20k).

( Swing back to me! )

Yes I hit a miracle in the BB. I also got it in good by capping 1st, then betting again on 2nd to take the pot outright. If he leads into me on 2nd, I call/break. As it stood, didn't have to.

( He telegraphed this, and I got UL. )

Okay. Here's where I noticed this guy starts only betting/raising when he has the hand. I barfed and had to call it, but considering Leon only had 5k left here, I was jockeying for HU chip stack. I had a made hand, strong HU, and he caught on me on the end. I couldn't get upset, he was paying the entire way to get there so I played good. Just UL.

( I missed value here, I'm sure. )

But, his previous play is making me play cautious, especially with HU play looming. I don't want to jeopardize my tournament.

( Ok so I lied, I'll play a big pot. )

Super, super strong draw hand early. I got there on 2nd, and managed to get a fold on the end which is fine. I'm okay with that because he paid again and if he got there, oh well, momentum.

( This took some momentum off Leon, who had clawed back into 2nd as I lost some pots. )

I have to check the end, having no idea where he is after drawing 2 then calling/patting.

I followed it up with this gem of a hand.

( Another big pot? )

I can't break after I've raised and been called, it's pat/bet/pray he doesn't raise/barf if he does. I had him by one card and that was all the difference.

I was winning pots and building my stack some more, up to nearly 40k by the time it got to HU play. Montanan beat Leon with 86 over 87 to get us HU, 36k for me vs 26k for him.

HU play was pretty simple, he showed me every hand he bet and won with, and I raised his big blind so often that I was basically going to win because he almost NEVER played back at me.

( First momentum swing )

Had to find out where he's at for HU. Playing for nuts? Ok.

( This is a HUGE momentum swing for me. )

You saw that right. I snowed 5 face cards and held up against him, drawing 2 every time when he folds the end outright. That gave me a 38k/24k advantage in the stacks.

( Fuck me. )

WOW. Okay so I just lost a 32k pot to go down 40k to 22k. I didn't let him get there by any means, just wow, can I run any worse?

( Nope. )

I win back a 32k pot with a fortunate 96 over 98 situation and him calling the entire way.

( The beginning of the end. )

He's down to 8k. 6k. 5k.

( Blah. )

Basically doubled him. 9k. 11k.

( All in and a call table 1! )

Fuck.

( Finally some traction. )

8k. 6k. 4k. 3k. 1k. All in.

( The penultimate hand. )

Wow, he stood pat on the straight. I guess he misread his hand.

NH GG ME!

PokerStars Tournament #200571482, Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
Buy-In: $2.00/$0.20 USD
42 players
Total Prize Pool: $84.00 USD
Tournament started 2009/10/08 19:30:00 PT [2009/10/08 22:30:00 ET]


Dear InanimateJ,

You finished the tournament in 1st place. A USD 31.08 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Good way to start off a post. I played fairly excellent the entire tournament, managed to keep my head on despite being outdrawn a couple times when I had huge hands, or solid hands that I knew I was ahead. A breakdown of major hands and lines shall follow, NOW.

( This is why I earned chips... )

I wasn't even in the hand, but I now knew that guy was a mega donkey. If you're new to this game, it's best LO hand, not HI. Full house is Hi. Very Hi. Moving on.

( Oh look at that I have the #2... )

Fuck. If it's gonna be a night like this it's gonna be a quick night, right?

( Nope. )

Got them right back when he's willing to cap with a 9. OKAY BUDDY.

( This will be the last time I say anything nice to this dude all night. )

It gets more interesting later.

( Auto-checking the Stand Pat option while waiting for slow players to play is... )

Oh. Wello that kinda worked out. I meant to pat if they both drew then bet, but when he stood pat I freaked and checked behind. How he stands pat with a pair I will never figure that out unless he wanted to bluff out of position. Bad idea against a savvy like me.

( Sometimes early on nines are valuable. )

Okay, I'm gonna work through this one here with you. I hit a huge draw on 2nd, 2345. Any 7, 8, or even 9 can make a strong hand for me, with showdown value against the range I see here. We've seen previously that this dude will stand pat OOP with rough 9s, and when I hit a smooth 9, it's an easy flat call behind him for value. I think 40% of the time my 9 is good, and getting 9:1 on a call, EASY call there. Position is everything in this game, and so is keeping track of the range of hands your opponents will bet/raise pots with.

( I'm getting SICK of this... )

Seriously. Every time I have the 2nd nuts, I'm going to get owned from behind with the nuts. So sick. NH. Lucksack.

( Sometimes if you think you can win, bet bet bet. )

I don't recommend this play against most 2-7 players, more often than not you get called by a weird range of hands on the end and lose to like Q lo, or A lo because some donkey thinks A is lo in this game. But, I'm pretty sure that he paired, so the bet is fine, he'll fold enough times that I can take that pot.

( Lippy dude gets lippy. )

I disconnected midway through the hand, my wireless connection dying hardcore. I saw the chatbox when I got back and immediately started to lip the guy off in return. I don't deal well with idiots like that.

( And now I take your chips! )

Ok, sure, I got lucky to win that by a single card. But he deserved it for jamming with the weakest 7. Seriously, play that shit way more securely and you might not get burned so badly by that kind of action.

( This is unfortunate... )

So I doubled him up, oh well. Broken clock is right twice a day...

InanimateJ said, "broken clock is right twice a day"

oh i said that.

( And now it gets violent. )

( Fuck me. )

Sigh. Why won't this guy die.

( Ok, let's silently build a stack. )

Guys like this that call OOP and draw 3 then pay you off at the end are great. It sucks when they get there, but take the chips while you can.

( As the stakes get up, you gotta get the most implied value from your drawing hands. )

Especially big ones like 7432. Those draws are straight monster, and you will get guys that get stuck on 86 or 85 that have to pay you off when you hit. Big pot for me there puts me in contention for the chip lead.

( This is where it gets ugly. )

beam beam said, "chasen fks"
InanimateJ said, "now that's a suckout"
beam beam said, "chasen fk"
InanimateJ said, "wahh i called a raise OOP drew 3 hit a rough 8 then got drawn out"
InanimateJ said, "way to play (Y)"
beam beam said, "chasen fkd"
InanimateJ said, "lol gonna cry about it?"
InanimateJ said, "sulk in the corner"
beam beam said, "the way you play your dad should have rolled over and shot you on the fking wall"
InanimateJ said, "lol"
InanimateJ said, "okay buddy"
InanimateJ said, "sit out and blind off"

WOW. Okay buddy. OKAY BUDDY.

( I channel rage into cards. )

( Goodbye asshole. )

( To the final table! )

Alright, final table, I'm in the cash, and I'm the chip leader. This makes me feel good.

( A pot to send us off... )

( I check good sometimes. )

So, looking back on this, I should've raised the first draw then pat from there, but being in a comfortable lead, I can probably check/call for showdown, he might have a 9 floating around. I was wrong overall, because this guy only bets made hands, as I found out later. He never bet 9s, only check/called with them, but he always bet 8s and ALWAYS showed hands. It gave me tons of free information that helped me win later on as the table whittled down. Big mistake; showing an experienced 2-7 player your hands whenever you win a pot.

( Down to 3, and now it gets really hard. )

Hand plays itself really, I have a rough 1-draw but shorthanded, against a short stack. Now let's get into where I had to play some real big hands.

( One hand later! )

Okay, so this hand is one of those where I'm not 100% sure where I am. Leon was raising a lot of hands, and I found a strong 1-card draw in position. I 3-bet him pre-draw, then hit a rough 8. He's check/calling drawing one, I'm pretty certain I'm ahead of his range here shorthanded. He check-calls 2nd draw, then checks the end after drawing 1. Normally, I bet here, but I need to find out where his range is, as I don't have a ton of info. I check behind for pot control, see he was drawing to a T lo the entire way, and rake a nice pot.

( I lost this pot, but it has meaning. )

I might've mentioned it in previous 2-7 posts, but I like standing pat in position with hands like J lo, because I can check behind for value and win a pot if they paired or hit paint. If they stand pat, I can break and draw to the 8 lo as well, which helps. It's a higher-level play that helps control pots, and often picks up extra chips without having to draw in position then face an auto-bet from an opponent that sees weakness.

( This hand was the first real momentum swinger for me. )

Negatively, too. I really didn't like the way it turned out, and it dropped me to about 13k, just over 10 big bets. I needed to swing the momentum right back to get back in this.

( Swing! )

I bet 2nd to see where my hand is, then do my positional check to avoid a check-raise. That evened out our stacks, putting us with 16k each vs the 30k of the CL. I felt better after that hand, feeling like I could get back into this FT.

( Another momentum swinger. )

You'll notice how I bet the end this time, rather than check with position. Given his previous 1 drawing range, I was confident that my made 8 was ahead of his range drawing 1 going into 3rd. He could've had the 7x draw, or the 9x, and hit it, but I think I played it good to get value out of a stronger hand. I stand pat when I know he's drawing, if he check-raises 2nd and then pats, I break and draw to a 7. Standard play really.

( BLARGH. )

My chatbox at the ends sums up my feelings. I horribly misplayed this hand. I should've folded the end when he patted in position, rather than expect him to be doing that with a T lo hand. Big big mistake that nearly put me on the ropes.

Semagic isn't letting me finish this post, so I'm going to go edit it in Livejournal.

vomit

i busted a while ago

still kinda hurts

goodbye for a while, don't have the heart to post right now

Made it to the next break with just over 10k in chips. I'm feeling really confident at this point, and I'm doing smart things like laying down mediocre holdings/draws, raising where I need to, and keeping notes on everyone at my table as things go. I really feel like 2-7 is one of my strongest games, and I like to think that I can keep just enough of an edge to make a run at this bracelet.

50 down of the 468 entered, 72 places paid so we have a ways to go yet for money, but I'm determined, and I will continue to play this out to the best of my ability.

Sitting at 5780 now, started at 5k. I made one really weird call and drew 2 on the button, hitting QJ752, and it was good to win a nice pot, and I've been running pretty good since then. I've been playing pretty good too, and my confidence is definitely back. 468 entrants was the final count, 72 places paid so there's a long way to go with the stakes only at 50/100 right now.

Check in with everyone next hour.

Ok, so I've started out to a really bad run. I hit a 76542 and lost to 76532. That cost me a good 500 chips. I've been clawing my way back to starting stack but it's just not working out for me. Currently after 25 minutes I sit at 4605 of my 5000 starting stack.

Tough, tough field. 416 entrants right now, will probably hit 450 before late reg is over. Maybe 435 if it doesn't drum up some more interest. At least it beat the guarante.

Okay, time to focus on this shit, get my nose to the grindstone and win some pots.

Honestly.

I jam my last 25BB in with AA, get called by AQ, and he hits a straight. What the fuck.

Goodbye.

Watching the FT of the $215 PL 5-draw tournament, and this hand just happened.

( wow. )

Thanks to my rant yesterday, I decided to avoid the $109 NLHE today (it's a crapshoot, I railed it for all of 12 seconds) and both my brother and I have bailed out and entered the $215 NLHE tomorrow (yay deep structures.)

Today is an off day, YAY FOR BREAKS

Jordan - WCOOP 2009 says:
i am good at stud
Jordan - WCOOP 2009 says:
stud is not good to me

this tournament is terrible.

Pokerstars, if you're reading this, DON'T EVER DO THIS AGAIN WITH THIS KIND OF STRUCTURE. $109 tournaments are a damn ripoff because of this, I feel like I've wasted a buy-in because of how ridiculously aggressive this structure is. If I wanted a turbo I'd take $60 to my local B&M casino and play a tournament live.

Please, PLEASE, don't do this again for 2010 WCOOP. Thanks.

And here. we. go.

Wish me luck.

*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #32413452614: Tournament #200909002, $200+$15 USD Razz Limit - Level XIII (500/1000) - 2009/09/03 18:23:37 PT [2009/09/03 21:23:37 ET]
Table '200909002 103' 8-max
Seat 1: Pontiac93 (24330 in chips)
Seat 2: bowser125 (13805 in chips)
Seat 3: JakeDahl (28480 in chips)
Seat 4: pokerjamers (4035 in chips)
Seat 5: Browntown19 (17100 in chips)
Seat 6: tysonduke23 (13595 in chips)
Seat 7: InanimateJ (3895 in chips)
Seat 8: Jaspersecret (12980 in chips)
Pontiac93: posts the ante 100
bowser125: posts the ante 100
JakeDahl: posts the ante 100
pokerjamers: posts the ante 100
Browntown19: posts the ante 100
tysonduke23: posts the ante 100
InanimateJ: posts the ante 100
Jaspersecret: posts the ante 100
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to Pontiac93 [Qd]
Dealt to bowser125 [7s]
Dealt to JakeDahl [Tc]
Dealt to pokerjamers [3h]
Dealt to Browntown19 [Kc]
Dealt to tysonduke23 [Ks]
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d 4s 6s]
Dealt to Jaspersecret [2s]
tysonduke23: brings in for 150
InanimateJ: raises 350 to 500
Jaspersecret: folds
Pontiac93: folds
bowser125: folds
JakeDahl: folds
pokerjamers: raises 500 to 1000
Browntown19: folds
tysonduke23: folds
InanimateJ: raises 500 to 1500
pokerjamers: raises 500 to 2000
Betting is capped
InanimateJ: calls 500
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to pokerjamers [3h] [8d]
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d 4s 6s] [5h]
InanimateJ: bets 500
pokerjamers: calls 500
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to pokerjamers [3h 8d] [3c]
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d 4s 6s 5h] [Jh]
InanimateJ: bets 1000
pokerjamers: raises 435 to 1435 and is all-in
InanimateJ: calls 295 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (140) returned to pokerjamers
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to pokerjamers [3h 8d 3c] [Qs]
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d 4s 6s 5h Jh] [4c]
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to InanimateJ [3d 4s 6s 5h Jh 4c] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pokerjamers: shows [9d Ad 3h 8d 3c Qs 7h] (Lo: 9,8,7,3,A)
InanimateJ: shows [3d 4s 6s 5h Jh 4c 6c] (Lo: J,6,5,4,3)
pokerjamers collected 8540 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8540 | Rake 0
Seat 1: Pontiac93 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 2: bowser125 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 3: JakeDahl folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 4: pokerjamers showed [9d Ad 3h 8d 3c Qs 7h] and won (8540) with Lo: 9,8,7,3,A
Seat 5: Browntown19 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: tysonduke23 folded on the 3rd Street
Seat 7: InanimateJ showed [3d 4s 6s 5h Jh 4c 6c] and lost with Lo: J,6,5,4,3
Seat 8: Jaspersecret folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)


I ran this hand 50 times using a deck of cards here, shuffling the remaining cards after 5th street, and burning 1 card before dealing each time. I won 36 out of 50 runs.

I was 72%. and I missed. That makes me so sick, that I run so bad when I'm playing amazing poker. Ugh. I'm gonna go eat dinner then puke it back up.

FUCK YOU POKER. FUCK YOU RIGHT IN THE EYE.

I get my money in good with 6543J and I brick off 46 to lose to a shit 9 lo. Fuck you, seriously. Wow. You commit basically your ENTIRE stack on an 83 draw with a paired board and you have the fucking gall.

Fuck off.

Seriously. Wow.

Alright. I'm gonna go tilt myself into tomorrow's 8-game! FUCK YOU POKER.

7400 chips, had a swingy hour. Not feeling too good about it, cause I really want to hit some damn cards and hold up, but just not happening right now. Missing huge draws, making big laydowns. /shrug.

I'm still in it, 4.5 hours in. 755 left now with 224 paid, I can make a run at this money easily, I just need to hold up and get on a heater.

GL guys, let's make it happen!

Sitting at 7595 right now. I was almost to 10k but I bricked a huge draw vs the resident douchebag at the table and am having to just kinda hang on to my stack. Stakes are now 200/400/40, meaning that pots are getting really big and really scary, real fast. under 20 big bets means I'm gonna have a really tough time playing pots because if I lose them, it's a huge swing in my stack and will probably bust me.

Alright, one time I hold for a full hour and win some big pots.GLGL all!