With three weeks in the books, the real players are starting to break away from the pack and put up some sizable leads. Fortunately, I am one of them. My teams have been on absolute fire. My highest point was 18th overall in the main game with a $15,000 grand prize. Since then I have taken a few steps back in the standings due to a lack of saves this week.
Throughout the year, you are only allowed 14 player purchases, where you drop a player from either your starting lineup or bench, and pick up a new one. I made my first buy last week, dropping a struggling Olsen for Maine who has two starts (vs. COL, @ WAS). This week, my bench starters include Harden (DL), Hernandex (DL), Sheets (hurt groin in last start). As of today, Sheets is still scheduled to start on Tuesday, but this could change over the weekend.
My outfield is falling apart as well. I have Soriano with zero HRs and one RBI, Taveras who's done nothing so far, and Baldelli and Swisher who are nursing injuries. I'm going to hold off on dropping anyone though because there's no one I really want to buy.
My buy candidates include:
Peavy (expensive) - nasty in last start with 16 Ks in 7 IP.
Wolf (dirt cheap) - 31 Ks in 30 IP with 3 wins.
Sabathia (moderately expensive) - great start, but he's still a fat fuck.
Remember, ERA and WHIP don't matter, just Ks, IPs, and wins.
I'll post an update next Monday with my changes.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Live Omaha, Online Cash Games Update
I took a pretty big hit at Foxwoods last Friday to the tune of -$250 in 4 hours. I started out in a must move game that was short handed. Basically I opened up my starting hand selection and was seeing approximately 75% of flops. I missed every draw imaginable and was quickly down $100. When I got moved into the main game, there were plenty of regulars playing, but a few guys were donating chips. Again, I was missing draws left and right.
When I was down to my last chips, a donk raises preflop on a kill. I was in the big blind, so I called, along with about six others. The flop came QQJ. With 6 players in the hand, its very unlikely for someone to not have a Q. The raiser bet the flop, a few folded and I called. Note that since it was a kill, on the flop I had to call $6 into a roughly $70 pot. The turn brought a 7, and I lead out with my xx77. It was now down to me and the preflop raiser. I was fairly certain I had the lead at this point. If he did have a queen, I would be afraid of a low card, such as a 2, or an ace. I was putting him on a A2Qx type hand, or even better, AA2x. The river brought a king. Since I was down to my final $20 in chips, I bet, got raised, and the prick shows me KQJ5. Unbelievable. Great raise pre-flop guy.
Even if the table looks good, I like to cut my loses at a certain point. In the long run, this is pointless, but there's a psychological disadvantage to playing when you know you're down a decent chunk of change.
After next Friday, I should have a 100 hour update at the tables since I've turned 21. I want to play some $5-$10 Stud though. First of all, I' m starting to get burnt out from playing some much Omaha. Secondly, my goal is to eventually play in the $10-$20 Stud game. There shouldn't be a real difference in the playing ability going from the $1-$5 to the $10-$20 table, just people willing to gamble for more money.
When I was down to my last chips, a donk raises preflop on a kill. I was in the big blind, so I called, along with about six others. The flop came QQJ. With 6 players in the hand, its very unlikely for someone to not have a Q. The raiser bet the flop, a few folded and I called. Note that since it was a kill, on the flop I had to call $6 into a roughly $70 pot. The turn brought a 7, and I lead out with my xx77. It was now down to me and the preflop raiser. I was fairly certain I had the lead at this point. If he did have a queen, I would be afraid of a low card, such as a 2, or an ace. I was putting him on a A2Qx type hand, or even better, AA2x. The river brought a king. Since I was down to my final $20 in chips, I bet, got raised, and the prick shows me KQJ5. Unbelievable. Great raise pre-flop guy.
Even if the table looks good, I like to cut my loses at a certain point. In the long run, this is pointless, but there's a psychological disadvantage to playing when you know you're down a decent chunk of change.
After next Friday, I should have a 100 hour update at the tables since I've turned 21. I want to play some $5-$10 Stud though. First of all, I' m starting to get burnt out from playing some much Omaha. Secondly, my goal is to eventually play in the $10-$20 Stud game. There shouldn't be a real difference in the playing ability going from the $1-$5 to the $10-$20 table, just people willing to gamble for more money.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Potential Gold Mine
I stumbled upon my longed ignored Absolute Poker account today to find that there were four $2/$4 Omaha hi/lo games running during the day. First of all, I was shocked. Second of all, I was very shocked. Not only were there a decent amount of games, but they were not the usual super-tight players from as recent as six months ago. In years past, Absolute was known to be one of the tightest and hardest to beat sites because they offered unlimited bonus reloads. Many people would nut-peddle and play to clear bonus dollars instead of playing for fun.
I found out that by signing up for a service called Add-Funds, I can essentially purchase long-distance calling cards and then transfer the 'calling card money' over to the poker site. It sounds like a completely insane way to move money around, but I was willing to risk a couple hundred of dollars for the opportunity to play online. I wound up getting the entire thing setup in 15 minutes and had a $200 balance sitting in my Absolute poker account.
It's still unknown if I'll ever see this money again. There have been some reports that Citizens Bank stopped accepting PokerStars checks, but I don't really know the severity of what's going on. Technically there should be no problems with banks accepting money from gambling sites, it's just that the process of getting money to the sites that was affected.
I opened up two Omaha tables and they were $$$. I've never seen such poor play since Party Poker left the US market. I made an easy $60 in under an hour and very much look forward to playing as much as I can. It seems like the highest traffic will be during the day, since most of the players should be Europeans playing during their evening, but I really don't know yet.
I found out that by signing up for a service called Add-Funds, I can essentially purchase long-distance calling cards and then transfer the 'calling card money' over to the poker site. It sounds like a completely insane way to move money around, but I was willing to risk a couple hundred of dollars for the opportunity to play online. I wound up getting the entire thing setup in 15 minutes and had a $200 balance sitting in my Absolute poker account.
It's still unknown if I'll ever see this money again. There have been some reports that Citizens Bank stopped accepting PokerStars checks, but I don't really know the severity of what's going on. Technically there should be no problems with banks accepting money from gambling sites, it's just that the process of getting money to the sites that was affected.
I opened up two Omaha tables and they were $$$. I've never seen such poor play since Party Poker left the US market. I made an easy $60 in under an hour and very much look forward to playing as much as I can. It seems like the highest traffic will be during the day, since most of the players should be Europeans playing during their evening, but I really don't know yet.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Bad variance kicks in
There's a trail of blood along I-395 northbound to I-90 east towards Boston (See map below) . It's the result of the leakage coming from the massive raping I took river after river after river after river today.
I final experienced the ugly side of variance. It's been long awaited. The two most shocking hands, within 30 minutes of each other, in which I had incredible equity after the first four cards are as follows:
My hand - ATKJ
Flop - KQJ
I flopped the nut high and had a draw to a fullhouse. I bet, then there's a raise, then a guy cold calls. The turn is a 7 and there are no flushes possible. I bet, call, call. The river is a fucking piece of shit Q. My straight is no good, the guy that originally raised showed a 10,9 for a king-high straight, and the other moron shows KQ for a fullhouse.
My hand - 34Q10
Flop - A2K
A perfect flop for a hand with a 3,4 in it. The turn was a beautiful J, giving me the nut high with a nut low draw. Being a rainbow board, I was pretty much golden. But the river had something else in store for me, another J. Some shithead takes down the pot with AJ, fullhouse. Two minutes needed to lift my jaw off the table.
I had various other suckouts throughout the day while being card dead during a very juicy table. After 8 hours I was down $200. Regardless, I was having a great time. The guys on the table had me laughing my ass off the entire time.
Ready to go home, I raise preflop with QQ45 to get my final $15 or so in the pot. Eight callers, so I'm basically praying for a Q. By some miracle of the poker god, the flop comes 559. Not bad, but certainly not good. A queen would be perfect, but I'd need to fill up with a 4 in order to win this hand. The turn brings a K. There's a bet and then a raise, meaning I'm through. Not quite. A five comes on the river. The raiser wins the side pot with KKK55 and I take down the main pot with quads. I survived the all-in and wasn't feeling completely bent of shape.
I'm now on my 9th straight hour and almost ready to go. It's just hard to leave when you're playing against nine other clueless people, but aren't getting dealt cards. Then, my luck changed a bit with these few hands:
A267. The flop came 347. The turn was a 5 and the river an A. With five people in to the river, there was definitely some sharing of the pot. It turned out there were two people sharing for low and three for high. Luckily I had a piece of each, giving me an unheard of 7/12 of the pot.
A379. I flopped really nice. Improved to the nut low on the turn and got a straight on the river. I bet out, got raised, and I re-raised because there was no way I'd be splitting both high and low. Sure enough, I scooped a nice pot.
A234. I raised on the button and a had a family of callers. I nearly busted a load when the flop came 232. There was a bet and a call in front of me, so I just called. The turn brought me the nut low and the river was painless. I took down 3/4 of the pot.
After getting crushed all day, I'm all of a sudden up $20, and ten hours is enough.
It's good to see that there was a lot of action on a Monday. I hope it stays that way during the summer.
My hand - ATKJ
Flop - KQJ
I flopped the nut high and had a draw to a fullhouse. I bet, then there's a raise, then a guy cold calls. The turn is a 7 and there are no flushes possible. I bet, call, call. The river is a fucking piece of shit Q. My straight is no good, the guy that originally raised showed a 10,9 for a king-high straight, and the other moron shows KQ for a fullhouse.
My hand - 34Q10
Flop - A2K
A perfect flop for a hand with a 3,4 in it. The turn was a beautiful J, giving me the nut high with a nut low draw. Being a rainbow board, I was pretty much golden. But the river had something else in store for me, another J. Some shithead takes down the pot with AJ, fullhouse. Two minutes needed to lift my jaw off the table.
I had various other suckouts throughout the day while being card dead during a very juicy table. After 8 hours I was down $200. Regardless, I was having a great time. The guys on the table had me laughing my ass off the entire time.
Ready to go home, I raise preflop with QQ45 to get my final $15 or so in the pot. Eight callers, so I'm basically praying for a Q. By some miracle of the poker god, the flop comes 559. Not bad, but certainly not good. A queen would be perfect, but I'd need to fill up with a 4 in order to win this hand. The turn brings a K. There's a bet and then a raise, meaning I'm through. Not quite. A five comes on the river. The raiser wins the side pot with KKK55 and I take down the main pot with quads. I survived the all-in and wasn't feeling completely bent of shape.
I'm now on my 9th straight hour and almost ready to go. It's just hard to leave when you're playing against nine other clueless people, but aren't getting dealt cards. Then, my luck changed a bit with these few hands:
A267. The flop came 347. The turn was a 5 and the river an A. With five people in to the river, there was definitely some sharing of the pot. It turned out there were two people sharing for low and three for high. Luckily I had a piece of each, giving me an unheard of 7/12 of the pot.
A379. I flopped really nice. Improved to the nut low on the turn and got a straight on the river. I bet out, got raised, and I re-raised because there was no way I'd be splitting both high and low. Sure enough, I scooped a nice pot.
A234. I raised on the button and a had a family of callers. I nearly busted a load when the flop came 232. There was a bet and a call in front of me, so I just called. The turn brought me the nut low and the river was painless. I took down 3/4 of the pot.
After getting crushed all day, I'm all of a sudden up $20, and ten hours is enough.
It's good to see that there was a lot of action on a Monday. I hope it stays that way during the summer.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Great Opportunity, but Couldn't Capitalize
The first hand I saw when I sat down at the Omaha table today had me drooling. There was the usual small blind for $2 and big blind for $4. The next guy posted a live-straddle of $8. Basically, he now gets the right to act last after all the cards are dealt, but it's a sucker move because he is forced to put in two bets before even looking at his cards. THEN, the next guy posts another straddle for $12. So before the cards are even dealt, there's $26 in the pot.
The best thing about idiots posting straddles and raising blind is that it makes everyone at the table loosen up and play like donkeys. Today was no exception. There were so many chips flying around and money to be made; guys capping bets on the flop and kill pots every other hand. Of all the days, of ALL the days, I am completely card dead. Nothing. I think I had maybe three legitimate playable hands in the four and a half hours I played. I had the chance to cash in huge, but couldn't take advantage of it.
I was going to head home early, being just about break-even when I was dealt a K652. At this point the table was playing passive and some of the earlier donks had already left. I thought my hand was suited, but when I re-looked at it, I realized I played a pretty crappy starting hand and probably wasted $8. The flop was nice. 922 with two spades. It's rare for someone to be holding a 9 and a 2, so the only hand that could beat me on the flop was an A2, which some could surely have, or pocket 9's, very unlikely. I bet out and was called six(!) times. A typical scenario in which at least four people are wasting their money. The turn was great, a 5. So I had what I felt was the best hand, and the turn brought a reason for people to stay in and continue to draw out. Another five or so people called $8 a piece and the river was a nonthreatening 10. With so many people in the hand, I wound up with a nice $120 profit. A good way to end the day.
Final results:
Omaha - 4.5 hours - +$150
Stud - 30 minutes - +$55
Total - +$205 in 5 hours.
The best thing about idiots posting straddles and raising blind is that it makes everyone at the table loosen up and play like donkeys. Today was no exception. There were so many chips flying around and money to be made; guys capping bets on the flop and kill pots every other hand. Of all the days, of ALL the days, I am completely card dead. Nothing. I think I had maybe three legitimate playable hands in the four and a half hours I played. I had the chance to cash in huge, but couldn't take advantage of it.
I was going to head home early, being just about break-even when I was dealt a K652. At this point the table was playing passive and some of the earlier donks had already left. I thought my hand was suited, but when I re-looked at it, I realized I played a pretty crappy starting hand and probably wasted $8. The flop was nice. 922 with two spades. It's rare for someone to be holding a 9 and a 2, so the only hand that could beat me on the flop was an A2, which some could surely have, or pocket 9's, very unlikely. I bet out and was called six(!) times. A typical scenario in which at least four people are wasting their money. The turn was great, a 5. So I had what I felt was the best hand, and the turn brought a reason for people to stay in and continue to draw out. Another five or so people called $8 a piece and the river was a nonthreatening 10. With so many people in the hand, I wound up with a nice $120 profit. A good way to end the day.
Final results:
Omaha - 4.5 hours - +$150
Stud - 30 minutes - +$55
Total - +$205 in 5 hours.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Another Day, Another Dollar
I got to Foxwoods around 11am today. In the elevator I hear some lady mention what the date was. Friday, the 13th. I figured that they'd be less of a crowd, and sure enough there was. The poker room was approximately 25% less crowded than it was last Friday.
The day started off pretty slow. There was only one Omaha game going and bunch of tight players in it. I spent the first three hours floating around even. Eventually a $8/$16 game got started, but I didn't have enough cash on me to switch over. You have to sit down for at least $400 to not get killed by the variance.
After the new game opened, a bunch of fish sat down and I took a very nice $300 jump.
Ended the day after 8 hours and up $195.
It's been really hit or miss with the games on Fridays. If I get to the casino too early, I have to sit through a boring morning of tight playing and small pots. But if I arrive too late, I'd have to wait around for hours to get on a table. I'm going to head back early on Saturday regardless because I think the games will be good all day and then I can just head home early.
My results on the Omaha table recently have been staggering. I've made $1145 over 24 hours for a $48/hour profit. I'm still anticipating a big correction, but it's been good while it lasts.
The day started off pretty slow. There was only one Omaha game going and bunch of tight players in it. I spent the first three hours floating around even. Eventually a $8/$16 game got started, but I didn't have enough cash on me to switch over. You have to sit down for at least $400 to not get killed by the variance.
After the new game opened, a bunch of fish sat down and I took a very nice $300 jump.
Ended the day after 8 hours and up $195.
It's been really hit or miss with the games on Fridays. If I get to the casino too early, I have to sit through a boring morning of tight playing and small pots. But if I arrive too late, I'd have to wait around for hours to get on a table. I'm going to head back early on Saturday regardless because I think the games will be good all day and then I can just head home early.
My results on the Omaha table recently have been staggering. I've made $1145 over 24 hours for a $48/hour profit. I'm still anticipating a big correction, but it's been good while it lasts.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Massive HORSE Tournament
I entered a tourney on PokerStars to kill some time while watching baseball. Somehow I outlasted over 5100 players and made it to the next round. It was only a freeroll, so it shows hardly any level of skill, but it's pretty cool that I lasted that long <-- "that's what she said". Since I have no means of transferring money to any online poker sites, and have over $600 locked indefinitely in my Neteller account, I'm shooting to win a whopping $10 through freerolls and build it up to millions (or at least enough to fool around with).
Long Weekend
With Patriot's Day on Monday, I'll have four days off from class. That means Foxwoods x 3. At least I hope. I expect a slow day on Friday at the tables. The Omaha game was pretty tight up until about 4pm last Friday when it became more tourist-y. Saturday's are usually goldmines but I have missed the past few and would like to check out the action. And, I am definitely going on Sunday. So this weekend looks to be either two or three trips to gambool. Looking forward to it. Results to come...
Friday, April 6, 2007
Is Niceeee
Another solid day in the books. I got to Foxwoods around noon and the Omaha wait list was already 12 names deep. So, I sat around for a couple of minutes before jumping into a $1-$5 Stud game. I was dealt a few nice hands, taking down a big pot with an aces full of fives fullhouse shortly after I sat down. I dwindled away $60 until I started with a QQ in the hole and a K showing. I caught another Q on the next card and it was smooth sailing til the end. I managed to finish up $85 after under an hour. I had said I am wasting my time on the $1-$5 table and should move up limits. Next time hopefully.
Over the past month, after six hours at the Stud tables, I was only at break-even. In the past two hours I've been up $155, which finally gives me a respectable win-rate.
They opened a new Omaha table around 1pm, which I was surprised about since it's Friday. When I sat down, it was a kill hand, meaning the limits were $6-$12. Usually it's a good idea to sit out a couple of hands when you are new to table to get a feel for the action, but I decided to play regardless. Right off the bat I'm dealt A267 and flop beautifully - 85K. The turn was even better, a 4, giving my nut high, nut low. The worst possible card in the entire deck came on the river, the 2 of clubs. This not only counterfeited my low, but gave someone a possible flush. I managed to squeeze out a quarter of the massive pot by splitting the high. On the turn I was looking at a nice $150 profit to start my day and wound up winning zilch.
Unfortunately it turned out to be a pretty tight table. We traded chips for about three hours. TightAssholeHick was down $100 quickly and that made me pretty happy. NiceMiddleAgedLadyButPlaysTooGoodForAWoman was also down $100 and that also made me happy. Finally BigFish sat down and we started getting some better sized pots.
I didn't have anything really going for me and was forced to switch tables when seats became available at the main Omaha game. The usually suspects had already moved to the new table, but there were a few other fish there. With no really memorable hands I cashed out $110 after playing for a couple of hours.
Total trip came out to +200 in 5.5 hours. A decent day all around, but I never had any huge wins. I noticed I was making better folds early in hands, rather than throwing away good money. I was also tilting less. The few times I'd get rivered to one of the only four cards in the deck that could hurt me, I didn't overplay crappy hands immediately after. Those two factors combined helped me minimize loses between my scattered wins.
With Easter on Sunday, I'm going to have to limit my gambling to one trip this week. I'll just have to make up for it with three trips to Foxwoods next week. (Which I plan on doing).
Over the past month, after six hours at the Stud tables, I was only at break-even. In the past two hours I've been up $155, which finally gives me a respectable win-rate.
They opened a new Omaha table around 1pm, which I was surprised about since it's Friday. When I sat down, it was a kill hand, meaning the limits were $6-$12. Usually it's a good idea to sit out a couple of hands when you are new to table to get a feel for the action, but I decided to play regardless. Right off the bat I'm dealt A267 and flop beautifully - 85K. The turn was even better, a 4, giving my nut high, nut low. The worst possible card in the entire deck came on the river, the 2 of clubs. This not only counterfeited my low, but gave someone a possible flush. I managed to squeeze out a quarter of the massive pot by splitting the high. On the turn I was looking at a nice $150 profit to start my day and wound up winning zilch.
Unfortunately it turned out to be a pretty tight table. We traded chips for about three hours. TightAssholeHick was down $100 quickly and that made me pretty happy. NiceMiddleAgedLadyButPlaysTooGoodForAWoman was also down $100 and that also made me happy. Finally BigFish sat down and we started getting some better sized pots.
I didn't have anything really going for me and was forced to switch tables when seats became available at the main Omaha game. The usually suspects had already moved to the new table, but there were a few other fish there. With no really memorable hands I cashed out $110 after playing for a couple of hours.
Total trip came out to +200 in 5.5 hours. A decent day all around, but I never had any huge wins. I noticed I was making better folds early in hands, rather than throwing away good money. I was also tilting less. The few times I'd get rivered to one of the only four cards in the deck that could hurt me, I didn't overplay crappy hands immediately after. Those two factors combined helped me minimize loses between my scattered wins.
With Easter on Sunday, I'm going to have to limit my gambling to one trip this week. I'll just have to make up for it with three trips to Foxwoods next week. (Which I plan on doing).
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Foxwoods
I' m taking a trip down to Foxwoods tomorrow. I play on playing some Omaha and $5-$10 Stud if there is a wait list for the Omaha game. Is niceee.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
CDM Points Teams
CDM is my favorite fantasy service. I've played with them for eight years now and have won a nice chunk of change along the way.
It is a salary-cap style game with 40 man rosters (28 starts, 12 bench), 25 team leagues, and league, overall, and weekly prizes. Transactions are made weekly and the salaries and positions don't change throughout the season.
I've entered seven teams across three different game formats (different costs and prizes).
Scoring:
1B- 1 point
2B- 2
3B- 3
HR- 4
Run- 1
RBI- 1
BB- 1
SB- 1
IP- 1
K- 1
Win- 10
Save- 10
Week 1 Staters:
C- Mauer
C- Piazza
1B- Fielder
1B- Gonzalez
2B- Weeks
2B- Phillips
3B- Cabrera
3B- Encarnacion
SS- Reyes
SS- Drew
OF- Soriano
OF- Sizemore
OF- Swisher
OF- Rios
OF- Taveras
OF- D.Young
Util- Howard
Util- Hafner
SP- Haren
SP- Olsen
SP- Sheets
SP- Hernandez
SP- Harden
SP- Papelbon
RP- Rodriguez
RP- Ray
RP- Street
RP- Saito
Bench:
C- McCann
1B- Pujols
2B- Utley
3B- Atkins
SS- Ramirez
OF- Holliday
OF- Baldelli
OF- Markakis
SP- Young
SP- Hill
SP- Hamels
SP- Cain
I've done a ton of research this year, so I really hope it pays off. My strategy was to mix a bunch of higher priced hitters with a relatively cheap pitching staff. Papelbon listed as a starter is money in this game. You get 14 buys throughout the year to drop a player from your team for a new one. I figure that I'd need at least two on closers, a couple on my speculative outfield, and the rest will be for the various pitching injuries that always occur.
It is a salary-cap style game with 40 man rosters (28 starts, 12 bench), 25 team leagues, and league, overall, and weekly prizes. Transactions are made weekly and the salaries and positions don't change throughout the season.
I've entered seven teams across three different game formats (different costs and prizes).
Scoring:
1B- 1 point
2B- 2
3B- 3
HR- 4
Run- 1
RBI- 1
BB- 1
SB- 1
IP- 1
K- 1
Win- 10
Save- 10
Week 1 Staters:
C- Mauer
C- Piazza
1B- Fielder
1B- Gonzalez
2B- Weeks
2B- Phillips
3B- Cabrera
3B- Encarnacion
SS- Reyes
SS- Drew
OF- Soriano
OF- Sizemore
OF- Swisher
OF- Rios
OF- Taveras
OF- D.Young
Util- Howard
Util- Hafner
SP- Haren
SP- Olsen
SP- Sheets
SP- Hernandez
SP- Harden
SP- Papelbon
RP- Rodriguez
RP- Ray
RP- Street
RP- Saito
Bench:
C- McCann
1B- Pujols
2B- Utley
3B- Atkins
SS- Ramirez
OF- Holliday
OF- Baldelli
OF- Markakis
SP- Young
SP- Hill
SP- Hamels
SP- Cain
I've done a ton of research this year, so I really hope it pays off. My strategy was to mix a bunch of higher priced hitters with a relatively cheap pitching staff. Papelbon listed as a starter is money in this game. You get 14 buys throughout the year to drop a player from your team for a new one. I figure that I'd need at least two on closers, a couple on my speculative outfield, and the rest will be for the various pitching injuries that always occur.
Yahoo Roto Team
10 teams, 30 players deep, $30 fee
C- McCann
C- B.Molina
1B- Lee
2B- Kinsler
3B- Rolen
SS- Reyes
CI- Overbay
MI- S.Drew
OF- Sizemore
OF- Matsui
OF- Hunter
OF- Markakis
OF- Hawpe
Util- Tracy
Bench- Duncan
Bench- C.Young
Bench- DeJesus
Bench- Scott
P- Oswalt
P- Papelbon
P- Bonderman
P- Ray
P- Haren
P- Wainwright
P- Maddux
P- An.Reyes
P- Garcia
Bench- Broxton
Bench- Shields
Bench- Loewen
I'm pretty happy with my team. I had the third pick after Pujols and Utley were taken and I decided to take Reyes over Santana. I like locking up the shortstop position early and not having to worry about it later. My offense projects to be first in the league and my pitching looks to be about average.
C- McCann
C- B.Molina
1B- Lee
2B- Kinsler
3B- Rolen
SS- Reyes
CI- Overbay
MI- S.Drew
OF- Sizemore
OF- Matsui
OF- Hunter
OF- Markakis
OF- Hawpe
Util- Tracy
Bench- Duncan
Bench- C.Young
Bench- DeJesus
Bench- Scott
P- Oswalt
P- Papelbon
P- Bonderman
P- Ray
P- Haren
P- Wainwright
P- Maddux
P- An.Reyes
P- Garcia
Bench- Broxton
Bench- Shields
Bench- Loewen
I'm pretty happy with my team. I had the third pick after Pujols and Utley were taken and I decided to take Reyes over Santana. I like locking up the shortstop position early and not having to worry about it later. My offense projects to be first in the league and my pitching looks to be about average.
Atlantic City Trip Report
For those unfamiliar with Atlanticy City, picture extravagant hotels and casinos mixed with a third world country. The surrounding areas intertwined with the city are pure ghetto. Walking outside, at night, alone is a guaranteed death sentence. Regardless, it was a great trip.
I played at the Trump Taj Mahal for the two days I was there. I wanted to check out the Borgata, but didn't have enough time. The Taj is notoriously known for having disgusting, dirty chips, but other than that the poker room was pretty good.
Day One:
I started off playing in a $3/$6 2-way Omaha hi-lo/Stud hi-lo game with a full kill to $6/$12 which was pretty juicy. I only played for 2.5 hours and won about $50 on the Omaha side. I got dealt nothing but garbage in the Stud side and gave most of my money back. A huge hand that could have helped my stack out big time was when I held A237 on a K867 board. I had an uncounterfeitable low to go with a pair of 7s. The river brought a 10 and I wound up getting 3/4'd to an A2510. Final result was +$0 in 2.5 hours.
I was highly disappointed with the $80+$20 fee Omaha hi-lo limit tournament I entered. The blinds increased way too fast and only 26 players entered. First place was $1000 and fifth place made their money back. With 15 players remaining I was chip leader after an incredible hand. I was in the small blind with AAxx and about five players in the hand. The flop came KJJ. It was checked around to the button and he bet. I called because he could have made the bet with just a pair of kings. Four players saw the turn which brought the beautiful Ace. I had a lock on the hand so I checked. When it came back to me there was already a bet and the button raised all-in. I didn't need anymore help on the river, but another Ace came giving me quads. I managed to get a call from a fat, obnoxious lady with QT for the straight. The button showed KJ and he was pretty pissed to get knocked out after such a perfect flop. The blinds were quickly $1K/$2K and I exited in 10th place after I committed my stack pre-flop with a suited AAxx and lost to two pair.
Later on that night I took a seat at one of the three (!) $5-$10 Omaha tables they had running. The game played with a full kill, any scooped pot over just $75. It wound up that nearly half the time we were playing $10-$20, which is higher than I would have liked to play, simply because a bad variance downswing would hurt my bankroll. For the most part, the play was more aggressive than at Foxwoods, but that didn't necessarily mean it was any better. I played for about six hours and finished down $60. When I was sat, we had just started a must-move game. Basically whoever was on the top of the list had to move over to the main table whenever someone else left. I only was allowed to stay at the table for no more than an hour.
I hit my first live Royal Flush. My hand had four high cards, so I was looking for a high card flop and hit a straight. I then hit runner-runner for the Royal! In Foxwoods they give you a nice leather jacket, and I was hoping I'd get something cool at the Taj. They wound up giving me two free buffet coupons which was disappointing. Nevertheless, it was cool to hit a live Royal.
When I moved into the main game I was up against a bunch of players who had some clue to what they were doing and couldn't build up any sort of stack. I left the casino around 3am after putting in a nice 14 hour day, down roughly $200.
Day Two:
After eating at the nasty Buffet, I jumped back into the Omaha game. A few guys from the night before were there and I was absolutely card dead for the first two hours. I went through one horrible stretch where I could not be dealt an ace. For an hour I saw nothing but K886-type hands. I sat down with roughly $240 and was all-in at one point. Two of the better players left the table and it was starting to look more profitable. I was picking up some nice hands and started recouping my loses. I wound up leaving the table with $500 for a nice $260 profit in five hours. It could have been much higher, but some of my premium scooping hands didn't develop past the flop.
One unfortunate hand came when I was in the big blind and had KQ108. You only win these types of hands when the flop hits you perfectly. It did. J92. I had a million outs. Any K, Q, 10, 8, or 7 gave me the nut straight. The 8 hit on the turn but brought a low draw and a flush draw. I was thinking that if the Q of diamond hit on the river, I would be money. Four callers saw the river and the perfect card hit. I had the nuts and no lows were possible. I bet, got raised, re-raised, and when I capped it I could only hope that they both didn't hold the KT. Sure enough we split the pot three ways and I couldn't believe the crap they were holding to draw out to the river with. They both didn't have low or flush draws, nor did they have straights on the turn. What should have been a $200 scooper, turned into a zero profit hand.
Over the two days, I played a little bit of $5-$10 stud for no more than an hour while waiting for my main games. I didn't stay long enough to win any pots and bled off $60 there.
Final totals come to 14 hours at the cash games for +$140. The tournament cost me $100 and three hours.
I'm not sure if I'll ever visit Atlantic City again because of how much of a shithole it is. I'll probably head back to Foxwoods next Friday to play some Stud and Omaha.
I played at the Trump Taj Mahal for the two days I was there. I wanted to check out the Borgata, but didn't have enough time. The Taj is notoriously known for having disgusting, dirty chips, but other than that the poker room was pretty good.
Day One:
I started off playing in a $3/$6 2-way Omaha hi-lo/Stud hi-lo game with a full kill to $6/$12 which was pretty juicy. I only played for 2.5 hours and won about $50 on the Omaha side. I got dealt nothing but garbage in the Stud side and gave most of my money back. A huge hand that could have helped my stack out big time was when I held A237 on a K867 board. I had an uncounterfeitable low to go with a pair of 7s. The river brought a 10 and I wound up getting 3/4'd to an A2510. Final result was +$0 in 2.5 hours.
I was highly disappointed with the $80+$20 fee Omaha hi-lo limit tournament I entered. The blinds increased way too fast and only 26 players entered. First place was $1000 and fifth place made their money back. With 15 players remaining I was chip leader after an incredible hand. I was in the small blind with AAxx and about five players in the hand. The flop came KJJ. It was checked around to the button and he bet. I called because he could have made the bet with just a pair of kings. Four players saw the turn which brought the beautiful Ace. I had a lock on the hand so I checked. When it came back to me there was already a bet and the button raised all-in. I didn't need anymore help on the river, but another Ace came giving me quads. I managed to get a call from a fat, obnoxious lady with QT for the straight. The button showed KJ and he was pretty pissed to get knocked out after such a perfect flop. The blinds were quickly $1K/$2K and I exited in 10th place after I committed my stack pre-flop with a suited AAxx and lost to two pair.
Later on that night I took a seat at one of the three (!) $5-$10 Omaha tables they had running. The game played with a full kill, any scooped pot over just $75. It wound up that nearly half the time we were playing $10-$20, which is higher than I would have liked to play, simply because a bad variance downswing would hurt my bankroll. For the most part, the play was more aggressive than at Foxwoods, but that didn't necessarily mean it was any better. I played for about six hours and finished down $60. When I was sat, we had just started a must-move game. Basically whoever was on the top of the list had to move over to the main table whenever someone else left. I only was allowed to stay at the table for no more than an hour.
I hit my first live Royal Flush. My hand had four high cards, so I was looking for a high card flop and hit a straight. I then hit runner-runner for the Royal! In Foxwoods they give you a nice leather jacket, and I was hoping I'd get something cool at the Taj. They wound up giving me two free buffet coupons which was disappointing. Nevertheless, it was cool to hit a live Royal.
When I moved into the main game I was up against a bunch of players who had some clue to what they were doing and couldn't build up any sort of stack. I left the casino around 3am after putting in a nice 14 hour day, down roughly $200.
Day Two:
After eating at the nasty Buffet, I jumped back into the Omaha game. A few guys from the night before were there and I was absolutely card dead for the first two hours. I went through one horrible stretch where I could not be dealt an ace. For an hour I saw nothing but K886-type hands. I sat down with roughly $240 and was all-in at one point. Two of the better players left the table and it was starting to look more profitable. I was picking up some nice hands and started recouping my loses. I wound up leaving the table with $500 for a nice $260 profit in five hours. It could have been much higher, but some of my premium scooping hands didn't develop past the flop.
One unfortunate hand came when I was in the big blind and had KQ108. You only win these types of hands when the flop hits you perfectly. It did. J92. I had a million outs. Any K, Q, 10, 8, or 7 gave me the nut straight. The 8 hit on the turn but brought a low draw and a flush draw. I was thinking that if the Q of diamond hit on the river, I would be money. Four callers saw the river and the perfect card hit. I had the nuts and no lows were possible. I bet, got raised, re-raised, and when I capped it I could only hope that they both didn't hold the KT. Sure enough we split the pot three ways and I couldn't believe the crap they were holding to draw out to the river with. They both didn't have low or flush draws, nor did they have straights on the turn. What should have been a $200 scooper, turned into a zero profit hand.
Over the two days, I played a little bit of $5-$10 stud for no more than an hour while waiting for my main games. I didn't stay long enough to win any pots and bled off $60 there.
Final totals come to 14 hours at the cash games for +$140. The tournament cost me $100 and three hours.
I'm not sure if I'll ever visit Atlantic City again because of how much of a shithole it is. I'll probably head back to Foxwoods next Friday to play some Stud and Omaha.
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