Poker Slow Down

I have really slowed my poker playing over the last couple of days. I just haven't had the time to play really seriously. I have some other projects in the air right now. Most of my free time after work goes to these things. Primo and I have been hard at work trying to step up the SAPC. I will talk about these projects below. We are also planning the first ever live SAPC poker tournament. We want to send the winner to Foxwoods for the upcoming Poker Classic in March. In addition to all these things, I want to pick up my free lance writing as well. I really enjoy writing, but as you can see my time is very limited.

Eventually, we are going to have an all new flash intro page for the site. I have seen early drafts and it is going to look awesome. We have added over ten new sponsors to the site. Not only do we have online poker sponsors, but magazines ones as well. We have searched the net and found the best deals possible. We now have the ability to host private tourneys on several of the most popular online poker sites. In addition, all new members to the site will get a member goodie bag filled with freebies. We have received incredible response from our requests and our new members will get a ton of free stuff. We have flyers, brochures and magazines from Card Player. The SAPC has kicked in as well and will give our members some freebies as well.

I did play some live poker last Friday. However, I don't think you could call it that as I lost my ass. I sat down, but could never get anything going at all. I think I won one pot that night and it was a real small one. Have you ever had those times when nothing is going for you at the table? I couldn't get any cards not to mention hit a flop. I would have been better off dividing my money among the players at the table. I would have saved them and myself valuable time. That is how bad I ran last Friday...bad. I normally walk away from the table with some sort of profit or close to even. Last week, I donated my entire stack to the table. I did make a little of it back by dealing though. I had a lot of fun as it was the first time that I had dealt poker.

We are looking to play live again tonight. However, I am not really sure if the game will come together or not. We have send emails and made phone calls looking for players, so we shall see what happens tonight.

What goes up, must come down...a little

Over the past couple of days, I have been enjoying some great success online. I have been playing like mad on Full Tilt. In a week, I have managed to accumulate over 600 FT points. That is a lot for me because I have never played online that much ever. I have been sitting at the 1/2 NL tables and making my money there. It is amazing how people will overplay and overbet their hands. They will try and make plays on you with marginal hands at best. I just sit back and wait for a hand. When I get one, my goal is to make that person pay me for it. I managed to run my bankroll up substantly in the past few days. I would either double or triple up my buy in each time. That doesn't sound to big, but when you string together a few winning sessions it adds up.

Last weekend, the down turn happened to me. I couldn't have a winning session to save myself. I wasn't playing badly at all in my opinion. I would play good cards, but just couldn't hit a flop at all. When you have good drawing cards, you need to have help on the flop or end up letting them go. I just couldn't make anything happen. When I did hit a flop, it was a drawing flop. I'd get open ended straight draws and flush ones as well. In hold'em, it can get very expensive to play a draw. Most people advise not to play draws unless the price is right. On the other hand if I had pocket pairs, I would get outflopped with overcards painting the board. I guess it is just one of those things that happens. That is why you need a bankroll to sustain the losing sessions. Daniel Negreanu said it best, the cards can make you look like genius and they can make you look like an idiot.

As I write this, I am not discouraged at all. I feel like my game is running really well right now. I just had some losing sessions and my bankroll took a hit. I just need to make smarter plays. I need to realize where I am position wise in the hand. As I have been playing, I seemed to have forgotten that key idea...position, position, position. Overall, the key is to get right back on that horse and keep riding.

Full Tilt Weekend

Primo and I spent most of Saturday making slight changes to the SA Poker Club site. We worked for about six hours moving things around and changing some of the modules and forums. We are just about ready to unveil the new improvements to the site. We are going to have an all new flash intro page as well as member application. In addition, we added seven new sponsors to the site. Our goal is to give our members the most options available to choose where they play online. We managed to get some great deals and I am ready excited about the relaunch coming up.

Well, we can't have all work and no play. While we were working, I decided to log on and play some poker at Full Tilt. I had never played before, so I decided to give it a try. There software is very unique and runs very well on a high speed connection. I was playing pretty well at the 1-2 NL tables. I bought in for a hundred and my goal was to double it up. I played some hands where I flopped top pair, so I bet accordingly and everyone would fold. I was getting a pretty good table image. Then one hand came up, where I managed to double up. I have A-2 suited in late position and decided to raise. I got a couple of callers and we all went to the flop. It came out J-7-2. As you can see not a very good flop for me with only bottom pair. The first player (BB) to act checked and so did the middle player. The action came to me and I checked as well. The turn brought a magical deuce giving me bottom set with top kicker. The first player bet out and the middle one folded his hand. The action came to me and I raised because of the straight and flush draws on the board. The first player proceeded to move in the last of his chips. He had made top pair and had a straight and flush draw (a ton of outs). I had put him on the exact hand that I thought which is why I raised on the turn. He was looking for a check raise on the flop, but I took that option away with a check. He missed on the river and I was up to over $250. That was the best hand of the session as I went card dead for the rest of the time. I ended up cashing out about a hundred ahead, so I met my goal of doubling up.

Later on that night, I logged on and played some more. I went on one of the most amazing that I have ever had playing cards. I was just catching and making hands all night long. I was running so well, that all my bluffs were working. I never once got called on a bluff the whole night. I had players guessing and guessing all night long. They would call my bets when I had good hands and fold to my bluffs. I even got serious action with my pocket aces. This new player had just sat at the table. I mean he was really new and hadn't even seen one hand yet. On his first hand, he raises all in for $50 and the pot only has the blinds. Everyone folds around to me on the buttion and I have pocket aces. I just called looking for action from the other players. However, the fact that he raised all in and my calling his raise scared everyone else off. He flips over A-Q off suit and I have aces. He gets no help from the board and donates his fifty bucks to me. Everyone at the table was stunned and couldn't believe what had happened. To be honest, I couldn't believe what had happened either. Just a lucky hand for me to be in.

Overall, it was just an amazing day. I played for almost six hours straight until about 3 am in the morning local time. It is funny how you forget when you are running well. I didn't want to log off, but my mind and body told me it was time because I was tired and sleepy. I was still pumped the next day and woke up early. I knew that I would eventually suffer from my "full tilt weeknd", but I didn't care...

Poker and the Super Bowl

It has been a slow week for me as far as poker goes. After last weekend, I really haven't played any games at all this week. I had some meetings that I needed to attend during the week. I am involved in some various masonic organizations. Two of those groups to which I belong had meetings this week which I was required to attend. One of my good friends was installed as the head of the organization. He asked me to serve as one of his appointed officers for the year. I was very glad to do it for him. We had a dinner last night and the festivities were held afterwards.

This weekend, I have some tentative plans to go to a Super Bowl party. One of the members of the SA Poker Club is having a party. In addition to the game, food and booze, there will be a NLH Tournament as well. It looks like it will be a pretty good size one with about 30 people or so. It should be a great time no matter what happens. Also, I still have some bonus money left on my online accounts. I am going to try and work some of that money down. After last weekend, I am anxious to get my money back from those horrible beats. I just got the raw end of it everytime I was dealt a good hand. What really ticks me off is that I got my money in with the best hand. Then everytime, I would get the undesired river card and my pot was pushed over to the other player. It is one thing to play bad, but all you can do is get your money in with the best hand. The cards will handle the rest and sometimes the result is not a favorable one. With all that, I am still confident and look forward to some bonus money and getting my own back as well.