Ramblings

I played a $1.00 tournament on Bodog yesterday and finished in 4th place out of 148 players. While I didn't win life changing money it still feels great to get a good result and cash in a tournament. I can't say that my game has - all of a sudden - drastically improved, but I find myself concentrating more while I play. I think that's one of the biggest things I need to keep doing to improve my play. I'm finding that when I stay focused on the task at hand, whether it be pool or poker or even my job, I'm more successful.

This isn't any epiphany I recently discovered. I guess I've always known it, but for some reason it's starting to sink in. Part of that is reading Jared's answers in the hand histories at Poker Dynasty.net. The answers are simple to follow. The main message I'm getting is to think through on your actions, study hard on your game and play more hands. Better results will come when you start making better post-flop decisions.

I found my favorite radio station recently online from my hometown of Chicago and I'm loving it! The DJ's make their own playlists and you don't hear the same song played over and over. You won't hear the same playlist the next day either. It's a rock station, but there is a HUGE variety of music played. Go to link and click on Listen Live Now. Hope you like....
Good luck on the felt and may the good cards hit your hand..........

Colorful Bug and Some Live Pokah!

I found this thing after hurricane Humberto passed by Friday night. I've never seen such a colorful bug before, and the patterns on him remind me of a small flower. He was hanging around the light on the deck, along with a couple of his friends.

Oh, I played some live poker Saturday night after the 'Bama game. What a comeback that was!

We had what turned out to be a $30.00 6 man Sit and Go starting with 80 chips. Neo Black was also playing. Thankfully he was on my right so I had a litlle more free rein on when I could play. Blinds start out at 1/2 and go up around every 40 minutes, or whenever we all needed a beer.

I chipped up a little bit by making a nice check raise on one guy's flop min. bet, and made some more on a couple pre-flop raise/ c-bets.

I made a huge bluff at the 2/4 level on a calling station who I knew would not call with something like a small pair. I led him by 30 chips and I've played with him before so I had a pretty good read on his game. Well, he got talked into it by the dude next to him. What ever happened to one player to a hand? He called with a pair of 7's on a board that showed a possible flush and a straight. I was steaming for two orbits before I cooled off. I liked my bet in that spot, given the read I had on the player.

So I'm down to 30 chips and it's time for the next level, 3/6. I look over to the player on my left and say to him to watch out because I only have 5 big Blinds left and it's time to start shoving. He laughs and pays me off three hands later. This level treated me pretty well, as I got all my chips back from the station on a really weak hand. I have Jack 7, suited, and hit the 7 on the flop with a back door flush draw. He bets the minimum and I shove all in and get called by 97. Nice double up and I'm back in it now. I made a few button raises to take some blinds and I'm starting to feel more comfortable and make a few button raises to take some blinds. I was never 3-bet the entire time.

Most of the pre-flop raises by the opponents were min. raises, except for Neon Black, who nursed a small stack most of the night and played extremely well. I knew I could 3-bet him in certain situations and that he would respect it but, as I said, he was pretty short for a while. If he raised 3-1/2 times the BB I was out. If I had a decent - but not premium - hand I would call and hope to see one or two more players enter, figuring I could steal on the flop with a raise.

We're 5 handed now and I knocked out the next 2 players to take a huge chip lead. The first player I knocked off was read based. I had been raising quite a bit (3-1/2 X BB) and this guy asked why I raised so much, and he folded. The next time I was on the button I did the same thing with Ace high, just trying to steal blinds. He starts to think and he looked frustrated (Neon Black just took a bunch of his chips with a straight on the river)and shoved all in. Something just didn't feel right about his shove. His normal style of play was to call the raise and try to take down the pot on the flop with a shove. I've never seen him shove pre-flop with any pocket pair, or premium Ace holding. So I called. He had Queen ten, off suit and I rivered a straight. The next guy went soon afterward when he called with Top pair and I had him out kicked.

Out of the starting 480 chips I'm sitting with about 380 of them and blinds are now at 5/10 and moving up fast. Two places pay out and neither of these guys will catch me, although I would prefer to see Neon Black go down in flames. He was the only player I really respected in terms of playing ability. That's not a knock on the other guys, as they are friends, but when it comes to poker Neon and I were the two best players there. There wasn't much action now and it was getting late so I offered a chop so that 3rd place could get some money for his effort. I thought it was the right thing to do.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Good luck and may the good cards hit your hand....

Creepy Crawlie.....

So I walk into work one morning and find this little guy waiting in the bathroom, just wanting to be shot. So shoot him I did with the Canon S3IS in Super Macro mode with spot metering so I didn’t get enough focus on his face. The distance to the subject is about 1" with optical zoom set at 48X. I did a little editing through Photoshop 6. Don't know enough about the program yet, so I hope this turned out alright. The image was rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise as well.

In Memory of Souls Lost....

I think Iced Earth said it best in this video. I get chills watching this.



I'm sure we all remember exactly where we were and what we were doing 6 years ago today.
I recall thinking, "We're going to war" and hoping my brother would somehow make it through another tour in the Middle East. He's a Cavalry Scout, so he's half nuts ;-) He fought in Desert Storm and spent another 18 months during "Shock and Awe" fighting with the 3rd Infantry Division and 101st Airborne. It looks like he may be deployed again after his Drill Sergeant gig is up early next year. God Speed, brother. And God Bless all our troops who sacrifice so much and receive so little in return. You are all heroes in my eyes.

A Great Guitarist

Michael Schenker is truly one of the greatest guitarists to ever play and this song, Captain Nemo, is one of his best. His playing style is easily recognized when you hear songs by the Scorpions or UFO.

Ozzy Osbourne wanted him to play in his band after Randy Rhoads passed away, and it is documented that Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones wanted him to join also. He is an absolute master in his craft who plays so fluidly it is jaw dropping.