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R.I.P. Hit-Man

Enjoy who and what you have while you have them.

Hello All!

It's been a few since my last blog but there is really nothing much that has been going on. I did enjoy thetrooper's latest entry and it made me think of a few things. The main thing that jumped out at me is the fact that "us poker players" seem to have POKER on the brain all the time. All of the hands we have seen and either played perfectly or how we would have played differently. How we saw someone play a hand and what you would have done to change the outcome...so and so's obv. tale, betting patterns....so on blah blah blah...u get the point. Each night when I close my eyes in bed I go thru all hands I remeber from that day and think of ways I could have played them differently in any given situation. So much like trooper says, I find myself eating, sleeping, dreaming the game (and my gf reminds me every f'n day too).

If you know me then you know I love my family esp. my lil Tyler. He is my world. All parents say that but I sincerely believe he is the absolute best thing that can and will EVER happen to me. This kid is amazing and I love him with everything I have. I seem, at least in my eyes, to balance my family life and poker pretty well, but even when I am home chillin' I am online fiddling around playin or railing.

So is there a world without POKER?

Weeeeeeeee!

Please someone tell me who runs worse? This guy tries to make a play out of the small blind WANTING and WAITING to give me his chips and.......

Well the hand history was not copied correctly so I'll walk you through it....Everyone fold to small blind....He has 2500 and I have 4500....everyone folds around to him and he raises the 200 BB all in for 2500 and I have QQ so I insta call....he rolls over 10 6 off....weeeee....flop K high rainbow with no straight possibility for him....Turn is a 10....DUH, river is a 6....nice runner runner miracle and he says to me "NH, I hate when that happens to me" ....Thank you sir for your much needed and wanted input


But I was left with some chips and later this happened......


Table 3 - 200/400 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:33:55 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: bij54 (3,650)
Seat 2: oldpappyman (5,730)
Seat 4: coopsdx (2,065)
Seat 5: mdyoung (7,290)
Seat 8: vanstock7 (18,535)
Seat 9: Shark1022 (4,310)
oldpappyman posts the small blind of 200
coopsdx posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to coopsdx [Ad Th]
mdyoung folds
vanstock7 folds
Shark1022 folds
bij54 raises to 800
oldpappyman folds
coopsdx: gl all
coopsdx raises to 2,065, and is all in
bij54 calls 1,265
coopsdx shows [Ad Th]
bij54 shows [9c Tc]
*** FLOP *** [Qc 8s 9d]
*** TURN *** [Qc 8s 9d] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Qc 8s 9d 4c] [3s]
coopsdx shows Ace Queen high
bij54 shows a pair of Nines
bij54 wins the pot (4,330) with a pair of Nines
coopsdx stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,330 Rake 0
Board: [Qc 8s 9d 4c 3s]
Seat 1: bij54 (button) showed [9c Tc] and won (4,330) with a pair of Nines
Seat 2: oldpappyman (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: coopsdx (big blind) showed [Ad Th] and lost with Ace Queen high
Seat 5: mdyoung didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: vanstock7 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Shark1022 didn't bet (folded)

So I ask you again, who runs worse then this guy? I watch and watch and watch in amazement how folks online and live literally give away their money and think to myself "this never happens to me." I have people wanting to hand it all over on a daily basis and they continue to get out of jail on some of the most amazing turn of events you could imagine....Okay enough for now but I hope you enjoyed yet another bad beat tourney ending for Cooper.

Karma

Does Karma truly exist? I hear this evil word daily now that poker is in my life. I believe in living right and doing right, but let's face it we're not all perfect. I do screw up from time to time but am I punished for it by bad karma? I feel that I am very blessed with a beutiful family, great friends, and so on and so forth and I feel that my luck is not that bad...but could it be better? If I didn't needle someone on the rail so hard or made fun of the occasional mullett in wal-mart could this boost my positive karma (or could I use +EV, Tim...lol)? If this is possible I will make a conscious effort to slow down on the "neverminding" on FT, or the "ha ha he he" when I find myself wanting to laugh at someone else's misfortunes. Don't get me wrong, I think I am a nice guy for the most part. I am caring and loving to those that are close to me and that I care about, but I have another side like everyone else. Can I shut this off completely?

Please share your thoughts on my debatable question...Is there such a thing as Karma? If so, how does one control, if possible, the outcome of good or bad karma?

TY and GL

Tunica

Ah...The great state of Mississippi. Well as we land from GSP I thought I had seen the smallest airport before in Atlantic City (yes even smaller then GSP) but the Tunica airport is no bigger then the lame ass firework stand you guys call a poker game. I hop off the plane eager to get going and see how the action is....but wait there are no casinos around...actually there is nothing around! The airport employee parking lot is gravel...need I say more? So we get on our bus to the Grand and as we arrive I must say I wasn't really impressed. I wanted to keep an open mind about the place, I mean for goodness sake I just finished reading "Zen and the art of Poker" on the plane, so I needed to keep my Karma in tact. We walk in the casino and of course I immediately look for the poker room. I arrived and luckily enough there was a tournament starting soon so I dished out my 70 bucks and was ready to play. First hand I look at 66 and rasied...picked up the blinds and went to the next hand. Second hand I look down again at 66 but there was an idiot who raised like 6 x's the blind and was called so I mucked...AA took it down. Third hand I look down at 33 and got in cheap but lost the hand....only losing 50 chips...Fifth hand 99...I mean WTF? I was for sure going to take this shit down if I continue to be a card rack. Eventually the donkeyfest fucked me out of the tourny KK vs. A10...dude called with backdoor draw and of course running diamonds completed his miracle flush to send me packing. Well 2/5 NL just opened up so I bought 400 and went to work. I laid low for a while dragging the occasional small pot as normal. The play at the table is really loose and the players are horrible (much like that damn firewoork stand) so I was waiting to pick someone off and get me some dead money. I look down at KK in the BB after the button makes it 15 I re-raise to 45...I limper actually calls my 45 (he played any hand for any amount pre-flop so I was licking my chops) and the button odv. calls the 30 add'l to make it a 3-way pot. The flop brought a 10 high rainbow board that I immediately fell in love with knowing the players in the hand. I lead with 60 and the idiot to my left folds immediately uttering some mumbo jumbo about missing his flop (no telling what he was holding) and the button calls making me believe he has JJ, QQ, or possibly A 10 from his look on the flop...I knew he liked that 10. The turn is a blank but he did something right before I bet that he did in the prior hour when he flopped a set of 9's against the same idiot I mentioned earlier. This made me realize that I have been outflopped with out a doubt so I checked. He bet out 40 and I smirked but called hoping I was wrong...I mean can't forld for 40 bucks. The river is an A and scared him for some reason and it went check check...I rolled my KK and low and behold he flipped his 10 10 and made a comment that he and I got into it about. I stated earlier that I was in my Zen like state of mind trying to never again get emotionally involved in the game much less any given hand, but he called me out directly so I fired back and later got a third party involved that almost went to blows until I offered to escort him outside and issue a 10 vodka drink consumed ass whoopin' Mississippi style, but his girlfriend thought it would not be such a great idea so we made it cool again. Actually he and I talked afterwards and had that mutual respect of staying away from each other in pots....Well I got back in my Zen mode and waited again to pick a spot and double up to get me back to where I was....I waited about an hour after mucking rag squared countless times and wake up with AA in early position. I made up my mind prior that I would pick one hand and try to maximize value because I knew for a fact I had 2 folks that I would be in the pot with...Well obv the idiot who had gone to the cage several times to reload called my 20 raise and the smart-ass from earlier called as well...Flop was 8 high and I lead out with 40. The moron to my left flat calls and the smart-ass folds. The turn is a J which makes a stright and flush draw so I decided to press and push my remaining 150 or so because I knew for sure he was calling. He had this tick he would do when he was going to enter a pot til the end. Sure enough he called and he turned over 88...I mucked my AA unfortuneatly getting out-flopped yet again by an underset and my session was over... mainly due to the consumption of a lot of vodka all DAY long................................................................Day two I wake up with a slight headache for some reason but I shower and and head back for redemption. I find olny one table of 1/2 NL going so I decided to join in and fill the last seat. I made up my mind to play tight after seeing some all-nighter spashing around to try to get back even from 12 hours prior. I picked my spots and drug the small pots as normal until I woke up with 10's against the big loud guy that everone was trying not to talk to. He called my 12 entry bet (ah....1/2 NL...gotta love the 12 bets.....vomit) so do 2 other players including a fellow Greenvillian whos name will remain anomamous. The flop of course is 4 7 9 with the 79 of clubs. I saw the big guy get up in his seat so I knew I was probably going to play a big one. I lead out 25 to see where I was and make sure my over pair to the board was going to see a turn. The loud guy with gold teeth raised quicker then I would have liked letting me know that I was prob. dodging a big draw or I have been out-flopped yet again. Everyone else folded and I told myself that anything but a club hits the turn then I am pushing so I just flat call the 25 more. The turn brought a J of diamonds that I really hated but I went with my read and pushed my remaining 100+ and he called....river brought another seven and before I could exhale he said in ghetto fashion " I gots fo of a kind"...Obv I was not happy but I offered him my congratulations as he drug the pot laughing and braging about his "fo of a kind"...which I brushed off and decided I was running far to bad to get involved in any more side games. I decided to enter the same tourny as I did the day before as it look like a tourist fest (but wait I was a tourist in good ol' MS). I went card dead and with the structure theres no room for "playing poker" and I knew I had to make a hand to drag a pot against these guys. Finally pushed off on a up and down with a flush draw with 2 to go and surely enough missed it all...after seeing the winning hand my KQ was also live to increase my outs and making me want to vomit even more. I decided to not play anymore after this and wanted to just hang out for the rest of the trip seeing that we were leaving in a day and a half anyway. I am finishing this blog after just getting back from a tour of the remaining casinos in Tunica and just enjoying the beautiful weather. ......I thank you all for coming and stress that everyone that reads this please take to time to get the new BLUFF magazine with Wasicka on the cover. I highly recommend you reading the Wasicka story as well as Annie Duke's article and The Aces and Ivy article. I assure you you will like 'em....To all my boys I'll see you in a few days and pray for me!!! I need help!!!!

Ok....here it is

Well this started as a place where I could vent and share in the wonderful world of poker is SC. After reading a few friends’ detailed blogs about themselves, I felt compelled to share my journey as well....Enjoy

Well like most the poker boom in 2003 with Moneymaker got me hook, line, and sinker. To that point I had only dabbled in Hold'Em and focused mainly on low limit dealer's choice games once or twice a month. But seeing a "nobody" walk in to 2.5 mill got my interest needless to say. There was no turning back for me! The dealer's choice game turned into a once a week tourney where the buy-in gradually increased as the player's skill level did. I found myself finishing top 3 about 90% of the time and pulling my share of victories. Now, granted the field averaged 15-30 people, but I knew that I had a good grasp of the game. So obviously I wanted to see what I was made of by going to the best city on earth, VEGAS.

I actually had a pretty decent gig making 80k + a year and I wanted my first Vegas experience to be memorable. I booked through a travel agent and she put us at the Mirage. I remember driving up from the airport at night and just being in awe from the lights and 100's of folks walking around. I couldn’t wait to get started! Tournaments were all I knew at that point with the exception of an occasional cash game here and there. The mirage poker room was my 1st Vegas experience playing 2/5 NL. As I sat I tried to keep my composure as best as possible, but I was just amazed at how Vegas seemed so perfect. I played and played. Going from the Mirage to Mandalay Bay to Bellagio (where I to this day have never had a losing session) to the infamous Binions downtown Vegas babe! I wanted to play where I saw Moneymaker and all of the other players that I have come to learn about. I entered in to a tourney at Binions...110 buy-in. I cashed 5th for about 780. I was pretty happy considering I was up all and all on the trip about 4k. I thought I was on top of the world. I couldn't wait to come back! Trip # 2 was great as well...we stayed at Mandalay Bay which is by far my favorite place to stay to this point. I had a few 2k+ cashes at the cash games and actually played the Binions tourney where I again cashed...2 for 2. I couldn't wait to come back for more!!

I decided to actually quit my job eventually and concentrate on playing full time. Possibly starting a business where I had the freedom of traveling to play when I wanted to and still had income coming in if I started running bad. Thankfully I had a supporting family to see me through this transition and being supportive all the way. I traveled to Vegas 10 more time in 3 years winning that damn Binions tourney twice and cashing again in 3rd. That's 5 for 5. Once, my boy Brian and I decided to go after leaving the Gentlemen's club and everyone else went to bed...well 4 hours later I ended up taking it down. I traveled to AC, first time alone where I played in the WSOP circuit event finishing 10 from the money. Then went back on a road trip (where to this day was one of the best weeks of my life) and actually did pretty well. I won a tourney at the Hilton and made a final table at the Taj. We blew through the cash tables and even won a good bit playing blackjack (Buddha)...'memeber that one girl...NM! I never felt so good.

May '06 we went to Gastonia, NC after coming back from AC and I took the tourney down for my biggest cash to that day of 4800...May 'O6 monthly total 11k...and I took a week off. WTF I mean I could do no wrong... so I thought. Doing what I wanted to do, going where I wanted to go when I wanted to go. Having thousands in my pocket at any given time....Life was sick. I mean I was doing pretty well for myself before poker but come on, there's something about having that cash on you and not a check being directly deposited in my bank account. It was exciting. I didn't want to go back to the 9-5 life again!

So here we are in April 2007...actually I turn 31 years of age tomorrow and I am still living the dream. I have fallen a few times and took a few jobs on the side to help pay the bills. But my heart and soul goes in to this game...and yes it is just a game but there's more to it then the cards...for me it’s a way to escape any evil and focus on what I want. You see so many times the Joe Blow for nowhere entering a satellite for nothing and winning a tournament for millions! Insta-life change coming up! That's insane.

Well I end with this...there is "No Limit" on how far you can go in life if your day comes, but the daily focus and determination is what will get you there. No matter how we all talk about how we "hate" poker and such...just remember why we can do the things we do...

WTF is going on here??????

why is it BAD poker play tends to always result in good fortune? Not necessarily a bad player all the time but BAD PLAY in general. I have never said that I play "perfect" poker, but dammit I make good decisions 99.99999% of the time and I find myself losing a lot of races, not only in KEY situations, but in normal everyday play. It's not like a coin flip all the time preflop nor post, but I mean my 60/40 and 3 to 1 or better's are a "race" in my eyes. I can assure you I am on the losing end of racing whether it be preflop all-in's where I am a huge fav. or 50/50 at worst(and I am almost always ahead even short stacked) and I find myself mentally fighting off what ever outs I have against me.

Oh poker Gods WTF is going on here??????