Adam LaBare's Poker Blog

Heading out tonight in the wee hours of the morning for Tunica. The intent is to get there and relax as opposed to driving straight through and sitting down to a tournament. Hope to be in the hotel by 3pm tomorrow. More to follow...

Short notice planning…but I’m headed to Tunica this weekend to take on the main event.  My posts lately have been lacking, but I do plan on keeping this up to date over the next few days.  Should be fun!

If any readers are out there…let me know.  This will be my first time in Tunica, so, not sure what to expect locale wise.  

Special thanks to "the boys"...you know who you are.  And of course the little Mrs.!

-Adam

Had a decent evening over on Bodog.com…
Here’s how things shaped up.

Played 2 SnG’s in preparation for the 8:30 25k guarantee. Finished 1st in both which adequately funded the MTT. I was hesitant to take part in a $30 rebuy and add-on event as I much prefer freezout formats. However, after the SnG’s I was feeling good and gave it a whirl. I’ve had a good amount of success in these nightly tournament and wanted to keep the ball rolling.

First Hour…
Bought in for $30. Received 1000 in tournament chips.
Doubled up somewhat quickly (20 minutes in).
Doubled up again right before first break which allowed me the comfort of not having to re-buy during the first hour.
Added on one time for an additional $30. Add on provided 2k in tournament chips.
Sitting with 7k in chps.

Second Hour…
Took a pretty hard hit. Got a little aggressive with a quality starting hand but missed every way possible way on the flop and turn against an eager opponent. Tried to bluff the pot after the turn to no avail which left me short stacked.
Battled hard to survive and was met with good fortune when I found AA in the hole. Raise ahead of me, I push all in, small blind calls along with the original raiser. Trippled up with AA in the small blind against 99 and JJ.
Sitting just above average at 2nd break.

Third Hour…
After the 3rd break I find myself in the money with 38 places paying. However, I’m short stacked and need to make a move. Next pay increase at the 27th spot.
I survive barely with a very depleted stack but practice patience waiting on a double up hand. Big blind coming my way which is only about a ¼ of my stack. Time to make a move. Luckily I time it out where I squeek into the next pay grade. Make my move with suited connectors. One caller. His A high wins as nothing improves my hand.

Finished up 27th. Second level into the money...not horrible.
I’m determined to make a final table in this tournament. Bodog is fronting a good chunk of change for this tournament as I have not yet seen where the guarantee has been met by the player’s buy-ins. First place pays over 6k with 2nd and 3rd also providing a nice chunk.

Current Bankroll:
Bodog: $440
Titan: $150
PokerStars: $15

Total: $605


Technorati Tags: bodog, pokerstars, wsop, poker, world series of poker, pokerxtreme.com,

Before I talk about anything poker related, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the events of 9/11. Today marks the 5 years anniversary of the tragic acts that took so many lives and I feel it necessary to stop, reflect, and remember. 

It’s easy to get caught up in ones day to day activities.  It’s easy to take the material things you possess for granted.  And it’s even easier to take the people you love for granted.  I am grateful for my wife, my family and my friends.  I’m grateful that I have loving pets and a roof over my head.  All of the other stuff, poker, internet, t.v., etc…it’s just extra.  I’m thankful that I can bring these small luxuries into my life…but in reality, if not for family, friends, and especially my wife, I would not be the person that I am.  So, to them I say I love you and I appreciate you. 

9/11 really disturbed me on a very deep level.  Watching the events unfold from afar left me feeling empty.  That emptiness soon turned to anger and to some extent, hatred.  5 years have passed.  Is our country any better off?  I’ll leave the answers to the political types.  However, I fear the answers. 

My thoughts and prayers remain with the families of those that lost lives that day.  And to those that continue to fight for our country in far off lands.

Poker…
Okay…that’ll be my “deep post” for a while.  As for poker.  Really didn’t play that much this weekend.  Did a little Saturday evening which resulted in a few SnG’s and a small profit.  Played in a $50 MTT last night which had been going well.  Found myself 18 places away from the money and on the short stack side.  Made a move with KK and was beaten with QJ.  That crippled me resulting in a near bubble departure.

For those that think bad beats only happen on “insert poker site here”, get real.  I’ve now given bodog.com a good honest test, and in the end, while the quality of player is a little different, the percentages of various beats are almost exactly the same for me.  I see the same crap on bodog that I do on stars.  After everything is said and done, it’s not that “strange” things are happening; you’re simply seeing more hands which result in a greater variance of interesting hands.  Some of which you lose, some of which you win.  How many times has the river helped you?  This is a simple stat most people often overlook when they bitch and moan about personalized bad beats they think they endure.  I chalk that up to the negative always outweighing the positive.  You see it all the time in the business world when customer satisfaction is explored, same holds true for poker.  People are always more apt to talk about the piss pour hands they encounter.  Anyhoo…

So, current bankroll:
Bodog: $279
Titan: $150
PokerStars: $15

Total: $444

Not great…but not horrible.  Things are moving a lot slower than I would like.  But I also take into consideration the amount of time recently spent on pokerxtreme.com.  Now that pokerxtreme is functional, I should be able to get my bankroll kick started.  I would very much like to make a final table this week on a MTT.  That will be my goal!

Good luck all!


Technorati Tags: 9/11, 9/11 anniversary, poker, bodog, pokerstars, bodog.com, pokerstars.com, titan poker

Friday…ahhh…
Very glad this week is drawing to a close.  Despite a short work week, just one of them weeks! 

Had a decent evening last night poker wise.  Still going strong with bodog.com and thus far, the bankroll slowly increases.  I’ve become a fan of bodog’s 25k guaranteed nightly event at 8:30.  2 for 3 hitting the money.  Last night was a situation where I never really had a commanding chip stack, and for the life of me could not find the right opportunities to get ahead of the game.  But after battling my way through the field, I ended up with a 35th place finish.  36 spots paid. 

On the PokerXtreme.com front…
We’re moving right along.  We surpassed our 50 member mark last night and have good momentum going into the weekend.  I hope to double that number by next week.  Membership is still free and of course will always remain free.  However, it looks like next week we will begin the paid portion of the site that will allow for the interaction with pro’s and semi pros.  Tournaments and ring games for pokerxtreme.com members should also be launching next week on pokerstars and titan.  More news on that as I get it.

In Other News…
Yet another project.  Working on a collaboration that will enter me into the world of Podcasting.  Really excited about this.  We’re working out the details now and should be able to share much more real soon.  We’re looking to really do something different in the poker industry via this medium.  I honestly feel quality poker content is lacking.  This should solve that problem!

Short and sweet update today.  I hope to get in some decent poker time this weekend and will be sharing as I go.

Best of luck


Technorati Tags: poker, wsop, bodog.com, pokerxtreme.com, pokerstars.com, titanpoker.com

Xtreme Update...
Alright...time to get back to business and get my blog back in order.
Yeah...lot's of stuff going on over at pokerxtreme.com...but now that
we're launched for the most part, I'm going to be back to my normal
blogging self. Now that we are live and off to a good start, the
intent is not to over saturate this area with pokerxtreme this,
pokerxtreme that....but, it is now part of my day to day
activities...so, the thinking is that it might be semi-interesting to
blog about the upkeep of a poker related community. Whether it actually is
interesting, I'll leave that up to my readers. Feel free to leave a
comment and let me know.

So, my heads been so far up this site's ass, I've had little time to
play poker. However, this weekend has allowed me to get back into a
semi groove. I've decided to relax this weekend and not market the
site hard core. After weeks of non stop work, I needed this weekend to
myself.

Half-Assed Bodog.com Review...
After a bunch of family stuff and various random household chores, I
was finally able to get online last night and play some frickin'
poker. Unfortunately, I've gone belly up at pokerstars which has been
a hard pill to swallow. I've just become so accustom to stars, that
playing anywhere else just seems alien. However, this brings me to one
of the main reasons I felt inspired to blog this evening. This weekend
has afforded me my first chance to truly give bodog.com a fair chance.
And I must say, I am pleasantly surprised. Actually, very surprised.

I'm sure many have covered long lists of features and various pro's and con's...so I'll just stick to my own thoughts here.

After the adjustment period to various options and settings, I quickly
found that I was enjoying my sessions here. A funny little side note.
I accidentally joined a pot limit SnG which absolutely nobody wanted to
join, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to opt out of
the tournament and refund my buy-in. Stars has a "un-register" option
for dummy's like me. After searching hi and low, I finally decided to
write bodogs support and request assistance. Their response? Click
the X at the top of the window. It was at this point that I realized
I've been dedicated to stars WAY too long. Granted, I still love
stars...but I think i'm starting to like exploring other options.

So, overall, the play has been interesting. I started the weekend with
bodog at $100. I'm up to $220. Not a monumental score, but the action
has been very much geared to my game play. I've played a few SnG's
along with a few smaller MTT's. Thus far, I've cashed in all but one
of the MTT's and have hit the money is 4 out of 6 SnG's.

I purposely started with lower stakes to get a feel for what I'm up
against. I'm in the process of upping it up a notch. Currently
playing in a $30 MTT. So far, so good. Got a way's to go.

Graphics are clean. The table options are cool. The picture in
picture approach is interesting. I can see using this in the future.
However, I like to associate player graphics with their game play.
When you have the smaller pic in pic...it's hard to keep that
mentality. We'll see. The betting options are okay I guess. However,
when you're not all in, or betting the pot, getting the betting slider
where you want it is kind of a pain in the ass. Overall though, I do
like the table layouts, color options, etc. I like the ability to
upload your own image and create a profile of sorts. It's a very clean
interface. I especially liked the ease of finding tournaments to suit
your needs. I actually found it a little easier than pokerstars. I'll
always love stars for the sheer amount of tournament options it puts
out there...but sorting through everything can be tedious. Bodog just
seemed to be more organized. That may be due to less tournament
options, but we shall see. One thing I would like to see more poker
rooms incorporate is the ability to sort with more than one options.
For example, sorting by buying, and status would make my life so much
easier. I think I've seen this on other sites, but I have no idea
which. Long story short, I would love to sort my tournament options
similar to how Microsoft excel functions.

Last but not least, the players I've come across thus far are loose,
and friendly. A strange combination. The play really reminds me
action circa 2002 at stars. The tournament fields are more realistic
and not a lottery. Every tournament at stars is incredibly high.
Hence why I really like the 180 person max tourneys. However, being in
fields of 150-250 players with normal buyins is a welcome change.

All in all, high praise for bodog. A very welcome surprise. Makes me
wonder what else I'm missing. Some day there WILL be a poker room that
incorporates ALL of the pro's and really limits the cons. Any
investors out there? =)

Steve Irwin...
I'm sure by the time everyone reads my little blog here, all will be
well aware of the circumstances around Steve Irwin's death earlier
today. Obviously not a poker topic, but this really sucked to hear
about. My wife and I were huge Crocodile Hunter fans and this really
took us by surprise. My dad this morning was calling at 7a.m. to share
the news. I woke up to the call and picked up the phone and asked "who
died". When he told me the story, I obviously felt like shit. But
part of me thought there was some joke coming at the end of the story.
Sadly it never came. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and
friends.

Few years ago I actually dressed up as the Crocodile Hunter for a
Halloween party. I'm lame, i realize. But you know you want to see
those pics. Maybe later this week, heh.

Alright, that's enough for now. Need to go spread the word on myspace.com about pokerxtreme.com, heh.

Best of luck at the tables!
Adam

Technorati Tags: pokerxtreme.com, xtreme poker, pokerstars.com, bodog.com, myspace.com, steve irwin, bodog review