Adam LaBare's Poker Blog: April 2006

Friday, April 28, 2006

Bubbles

Mr. Bubble to you...
Been a long while since the last bubble appearance. However, sadly, last night I experienced the joyful bliss known as going out on the bubble in a 180 person $20 MTT. While I'm not going to stomp my feet and hold my breathe, I really really dislike going out on the bubble. In hindsight though, I should probably be pleased with the comeback I experienced last night. I was not doing well at all for the majority of the tournament. Finally got backed in to a corner where I went all in with 44 and ran up against 55. I actually doubled up with a 4 on the flop. Doubled up a few more times and found myself in a decent position to make the money. As the tournament continued, obviously the blinds increased. My hands went dead and I found that I was letting the blinds eat me alive. So, as the money approached, I made the decision to push with the next decent hand. I wanted to be armed and ready to win the tournament, not just skim by. 18 places pay, I look down and see that I'm 20th of 20 with AK. At this stage, I figured alright, let's make a run for it. As I push, I realize that one other individual went out on another table leaving 19 people. Had I known this before pushing, I think I would have folded. But make the push I did. Ended up against JJ who caught a J to boot. And there I am out on the bubble.

hmmph

Called it a night after that. Figured had I continued my play at that point, I would have been too aggressive wanting to make as much money in a short amount of time. So, ended up going to bed early which was probably much needed.

Weekend plans...
Poker wise, I do plan on hitting a few WSOP satellites. I also want to take a good crack at the 1 million tourney satellites for Sunday. These damn satellites have been my bane these last few weeks. Finishing second in these one table satellites is becoming a habit. This will be my week! Beyond that, have to finish laying sod this weekend. Glad to have this over and done with.

-Adam

9:19 AM | Permalink |

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Interesting Table Talk

No stories of vast wealth to share today. I played in a $75 tournament last night locally as planned. However, I made a bonehead play with A9 and found myself up against AQ. Really put this guy on a weak hand and made a play at him when an ace hit the turn. And that was all she wrote.

Interesting conversation at the table though. Several people were in a passionate discussion concerning the benefits of playing poker with an altered state of mind. i.e. drunk, high. One comment that really stuck out in my mind listening to this though was one individuals comment on how his good buddy can be considered a decent player while sober. But when high, he was an amazing player. This brought on a slew of examples of people that play better while inebriated or high. This also brought out several disagreements with the thinking that people may be wild under the influence, but they are not necessarily better.

In my own observations, I have heard several people say they have a heightened sense of awareness when smoking pot which allows them a much more technical approach to poker. I have also come across people that are tight as a drum normally, but get a few stiff drinks in them, and they loosen up tremendously. As a result, they see more flops, win more pots, etc. But my thinking here, at least from personal experience is while various forms of mind altering substances my indeed loosen ones inhibitions, it is my opinion that while the success short term may be worthy, long term, you always give it back. And by no means am I one to offer expert opinion on this matter. I can say that I have played many a poker game with a few drinks in me. But I'm usually not sitting at this game to make any vast amounts of money. If I have a drink while playing, it's usually in a much more relaxed state of poker. The stakes are not high, the people are friendly, and everyone is there just to have a good time. Rarely will I take a sip of alcohol if real money is at stake.

I suppose responsible thinking would dictate never to touch such substances while playing poker. Okay, sounds great. However, I'm only human. Every once in a while, a beer or two can actually help relax ones self allowing that person to stop, smell the roses and play his A game. Certainly not suggesting you go out and drink while playing poker. I will say this: Any action one takes while playing poker should be given the proper amount of thought in consideration of the ramifications. If you get drunk, what's the risk? If you're high, what's the risk if you play with the last $400 in your wallet? Are you an abusive drunk? Emotional? You get the point. In the end, my advice is never give your opponent the upper hand. If drinking or smoking lessens your quality of game, just say no!

And that's my public service announcement for today.
I need a drink.

-Adam

9:24 AM | Permalink |

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

HOOOORAY BEER!

HOOOORAY BEER!
No real reason to praise beer at the moment, but every once in a while I think fondly on Red Stripe Beer commercials. Strange, I know.

Anyway, last night was a good night. Messed around with a $3 rebuy with 20k guaranteed, however I just got burned out on this damn tournament. 3 1/2 hours in and still 800 people left. I just didn't have the stamina or time to deal with the idiots this tournament produces. Finally pushed with A 10 suited and got busted by 7 9. I was glad.

My concentration was really devoted last night toward the 180 person max $20 tournament. Was one helluva tournament for me as tournaments normally go. In the first 10 minutes, found myself down to 500 in chips. It's easy to say screw it at this point and just push with the next semi decent hand. I waited a while thinking the blinds were not going to kill me any time soon. So, await my turn I did. Came up with several key hands that allowed me to turn that 500 quickly in to 4000. Once I got comfortable, I dug a trench and began the battle. The odd thing is, after making my way back from the 500 in chips, I do not remember any key plays that allowed me to continue building my stack. I just kept chipping away with the best hands and played my position well. All in all, secured a 3rd place finish last night which now brings my bankroll up to $1100 and change. I'm starting to really formalize an advanced strategy on these specific 180 person tournaments. I'm planning on really giving this some thought and posting an in depth article soon.

On another note...
I've been receiving emails lately from people out of left field calling my successes BS. In that they do not believe I can prove my earnings. This somewhat perplexes me for the simple fact most of this data is readily available on one site or another. If people want to call me out, do a little research before hand and you might be surprised. With that being said, let me share a few nuggets of wealth for those playing online:

thepokerdb.com
Using this tool is an absolute must when playing multi table tournaments. This service provides a database of each individual you come across in a tournament on pokerstars.com displaying earnings. Quite impressive. This tool alone will separate fact from fiction.

sharkscope.com
This is a tool to match yourself up and compare with others from a Sit n Go perspective. These guys are somewhat new on the block and I find the data to be slightly inaccurate. However, overall the data is on target and you can gain a lot of knowledge about a person and their play.

These two tools alone will give you far more information than most show up to the table with. I have also used in the past various databases that reside on your own computer which you can dissect to learn more about your own play and those that you come across. Only problem I have with these though is how cumbersome they can be.

Moving forward perhaps I will just post the following information:

PokerStars Tournament #23709491, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $20.00/$2.00
180 players
Total Prize Pool: $3600.00
Tournament started - 2006/04/25 - 19:55:02 (ET)

Dear JvilleWhip,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place.
A $428.40 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Tonights Plan...
Tonight I plan on attending a monthly tournament held locally. I've done well in this tournament in the past and plan on playing a fairly tight/aggressive game. Details to follow...

Until next time,
Adam

10:22 AM | Permalink |

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Practice Patience

I know I deliver this message quite often, but it bears repeating. This advice can be applied in several scenarios, but let's concentrate on Turbo Sit n Go's.

Practice Patience!

While it's tempting to be overly aggressive in the beginning, time and time again I see people push all in and loose their entire stack in the first 10 minutes. While everyone has their own style, I just don't see this as smart poker in such a setting with blinds increasing every 12 minutes.

If you don't want to think too deep on this topic the formula is simple: Let everyone knock eachother around for the first few levels, wait for your move, then double, triple, and quadruple up. You're cards will come. Better yet, your position will come.

Once the wild childs are knocked out, you can then concentrate on poker. Wait for your position and or cards, and you'll find plenty of opportunity to do your bidding.

I bring all of this to light having played in a few turbo sit n go's last night at the Jacksonville Poker Room. An establishment not very well known for it's patient players. Knowing this, each time I play in these tournaments I usually do fairly well just letting everyone knock eachother out and practicing patience. Granted, I've had my share of over anxious moments, but being able to recognize such scenarios and knowing when to reign those temptations in is key. Played two tournaments last night, placed 1st in each. Now if I could just develop a formula to ensure that happens each time I could quit my real job. Sigh.

And In Other News...
Just a quick update on my WSOP progress. Obviously I have not yet won my seat, but I have been having success playing in the $5 satellites to gain entry in to the $160 double shoot out. (same method used to win last year's seat) I've now played in three of this little satellites and have won my seat each time to the shootout. Haven't made it past the first table yet, but for minimal investment, I've been getting my odds in the mix.

PokerStars bank-roll I still healthy. Working with $750 at the moment. Hope to continue increasing that number while using profits toward further WSOP satellites. Hopefully we can discuss new successes on this topic soon.

Until then...
Adam

9:14 AM | Permalink |

Monday, April 24, 2006

A Little R & R

Poker wise, not a very productive weekend. For that matter, wasn't a very productive weekend in general which isn't necessarily a bad thing I guess. Yet, I still found myself worn out by Sunday evening.

Friday was a very good evening from a personal perspective. My longest/best friend from Ma. was in Orlando with her family vacationing. Had not seen her in about four years. Drove down Friday afternoon. From Jacksonville, only took 2 hours which for the side of Orlando I had to trek to, was not bad at all. Nabbed a hotel room, hung out there for a spell, then had dinner with her and her family. From there, had a great time down at Church St. Station. If any of you are familiar with Orlando, you know this is a cool little spot. Anyhoo...was great seeing her and her family. I look forward to visiting her soon in Ma. Will be a great reason to check out Foxwoods while I'm up there.

Saturday ended up being a recuperation day. Was't really feeling poorly, just tired. Didn't even turn the computer on. After various family obligations Sunday, finally had a chance to get online and play a little last night. Felt like I was in a fairly decent state of mind, yet I could not cash to save my life. Dropped over $100 in an hour. Finally took one last stab at a $38 sit n go. Took first place and earned back my loss for the day. Ended up breaking even.

So, like I said, not a very productive poker weekend, but it was nice just hanging with friends and family. Sometimes you need a little R & R for your brain.

Thanks all,
Adam

10:04 AM | Permalink |

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

No News is Good News?

I have very little to report when it comes to various poker happenings these last few days. Which, in all likelihood is probably good news. I say that because I've been absolutely miserable since Saturday. Therefore, playing poker in a poor state of mind would have cost me money. By not having played, I in essence have profited? Look at it however you want, but in the end, no money lost is a success.

Although, I will comment on a little poker played Monday evening. Played in a $5 rebuy WSOP satellite. This was to gain you entry in to the $160 double shootout later that evening. Long story short, invested $15 and won the entry. Played in the double shoot out later on and was doing fairly well. Ended up getting in to a spot with QQ against KK. He took me down fair and square. Wasn't overly bitter about it. Was just too bad. Part of me was hoping to just snag that WSOP entry that evening. Actually, a large part of me. Close, but no cigar.

So, as to why i've been miserable these last few days. Not a very exciting story, but one I shall share anyway. Had 4 palates of sod delivered Saturday. Had hoped to have various forms of assistance in laying said sod. No luck. Ended up tilling my yard that Saturday then laying new sod across the entire back yard Sunday. Both aspects absolutely sucked donkey balls. I went to home depot to rent a decent tiller. Leave it to me to have an epiphany. A tiller attachment for my weed wacker you say? What a great idea. sigh. I buy this attachment thinking it'll work wonderfully. Very well may have, for a 4ft garden! So rather than just return the damn thing, I proceed to till my entire backyard with this glorified garden toy. What a ball busting task. Here I am tilling a rather large yard with this tiny machine that I have to dig in the ground, push forward then pull back. Anyway, 7 hours later, there goes my Saturday.

Sunday rolls around and while in pain from the previous day, I was actually geared up and ready to make my yard "purty" again. If ever I lay sod again, the one very valuable lesson learned from all this, do NOT lay 4 palates of sod in one day. Have one pallet delivered, lay that. Have another delivered down the line, lay that. So on and so forth. I started at 9am and found myself with half a yard left at 3pm with people showing up for Easter. Needless to say, I wasn't the most gracious host on Easter Sunday. I miss living in an apartment. This yard work bullshit stinks. Although, I will say this. After everything is said and done, it's nice being able to say "hey, I did that".

Did I mention I have a sunburn the likes of a burnt piece of bacon?

Alright, I'll stop my bitching now. I hope to have some time back to myself this evening to play some poker. With the pains of manual labor, sunburn, and overall grumpiness, I've played very little since last week. Time to get back in to action.

-Adam

11:54 AM | Permalink |

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Today's Lesson...

Today's Lesson: Do NOT slow play pocket queens 3 positions away from the final table!
Sigh

Played in my typical $10 MTT event last night. Found myself doing pretty well through the entire tournament. Made the money and continued adding chips from there. Played a fairly tight/aggressive game throughout. Ended up on the last two tables with $150,000 in chips. Average stack at this point was around $90K. Took a little hit with A10 cracked by Q9. Found myself at $80k. Came up with pocket queens. This hand had been doing extremely well for me all evening. At this stage, everyone was playing extremely aggressive. All in or nothing. People pushing with Q9, J10, etc. I was in middle position. My thinking was await the raise and push from there. One caller. Flop comes JJ10. Long story short, my opponent held J9 thus busting me in 12th place. Still made a decent showing. Needless to say though, I should have known better. I was playing smart the entire tournament, one bone head play and it's over. That's how it goes.

In Other News...
Played a few sit n go's at our local Jacksonville Poker Room Monday night. I usually stay away from this establishment. Having once dealt there, I'm just far too familiar with the donkeys in this room. You get what you pay for and with live play blinds not able to exceed $2. But I do try to check out their tournaments every now and again. Monday they offered 10 handed sit n gos with top 2 spots paid. Played two, placed 2nd in both. Not bad for some crazy play. Trick there is to be patient, wait for your hand then sucker someone by getting them to get all their chips in. Doubling up is the key with blinds increasing every 13 minutes.

And Lastly...
A special thank you to Matt and the crew at pokersavvy.com. I was invited to participate in a poker blogger freeroll this past Tuesday. Great bunch of people. had fun with my horrible showing. =)

Take care all,
-Adam

11:54 AM | Permalink |

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Random Ramblings

Not much to report on last night's activities. Played a little bit but was not able to really devote my full concentration. That being the case, felt it best not to heavily invest in several tournaments. The good news though, my damn floors are done. What an ordeal. Spent the better part of the evening sweeping, mopping, carrying out garbage, moving furniture back in, sweeping, and mopping again. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the outcome. Really gives the home a much cleaner, brighter feel. Plus, the dog piss, puke, poop stains are gone. So, woo hoo!

Next project? Let the landscaping begin. I just wasn't happy with the amount of headache and stress re-doing our floors. I really want to add to that and dig up my back yard, re-sod it, etc. All sarcasm aside, I plan on getting this little fun filled chore started this coming weekend.

And in other news...
While I don't have a lot to analyze from last nights poker play, I did come across an interesting announcement yesterday. Apparently Bet365 wants to not only send you to this years WSOP Main Event, they want to enter you in to each WSOP event leading up to the big show. While I remain faithful to PokerStars, some of the promotions floating around are really starting to appeal. May start poking around and testing out the waters. The thought of being in Vegas for two months playing as many WSOP events as one could handle would be an absolute dream come true for me. Some day, I hope to do just that on my own accord as a professional. However, the reality of marriage and obligations sets in. Poop. Damn reality getting in the way again. When the day comes though that I do take that leap of faith and turn pro full time, wifey poo and I will have to have a long talk. In the end though, if I were able to continue paying the bills consistently, she's always express support. For the most part. We'll deal with that when the time comes.

Anyhoo...

4:33 PM | Permalink |

Monday, April 03, 2006

Damn Tiles!

I had very little opportunity to play much this weekend. Having your house re-tiled takes up far more from ones spare time then one would hope. Not that anyone cares, but I ended up having to finish the tiling job myself which ate up my entire Sunday. Will most likely dictate tonight as well.

Why finish the job myself? As the saying goes, “if you want it done right”. By Saturday, we were 5 days in with an incomplete floor. Most of the tile was laid, and done so fairly well. However, it was promised to be complete by Saturday, latest. During this time, my wife and I have been holed up in our bedroom with 3 dogs. This could lead one to serious drinking. I blame the dogs for any alcoholism I may have endured this past week. Actually walked around the house yesterday cursing my dogs for no reason. I formally apologize to my canine friends. At this point, it was time to re-claim our home. So, ended up grouting, and wiping down afterwards with a sponge. All I have to say, is that I’ve been sitting behind a desk for far too long. Grouting sucks. In the end though, I think I did a really fine job. I am officially patting myself on the back.

The extent of my poker highlights this weekend however are even less exciting. Finally took some time last night and played a few sit n gos. I lost every damn tournament I touched. Finally said screw it and played some live action. It’s probably been a solid year since I’ve played live with any intent to turn a profit. I’m not sure what the hells going on over at Stars, but I swear to god. Playing rings games yesterday was like night and day compared to the cards I was getting in the tournaments. Big blind, 7 4 off, flops comes, 4 4 7. A 9 early position, I limp in, flop comes 9 9 9. K J late position, flop comes 10, Q A. WTF!!? Granted, I was playing for miniscule stakes, but I really started to wonder what the deal was. I stopped to analyze if I was just seeing more flops compared to my tournament play, but I really wasn’t. For the 5 sit n go’s lost, I made my entry fee’s back on this one no limit table in the course of 2 hours. At that point, I took my marbles and went home so to speak.

I’m not one to question the reasoning why cards flop the way they do online. You take the good, you take the bad…and there you have….bah, nevermind. Point is, I remain quite optimistic in comparison with many. Last night though, I had to ask the question. However, I’ll leave that question unspoken for the time being.

As for plans this evening. I hope to get my damn furniture back in order before I do anything. Once I do though, I’m going to take a crack at this live action again just to test the waters. I’ll keep everyone posted.

-Adam

4:30 PM | Permalink |

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