Meh.........

This weekend was pretty fun. On Friday, Grant, Heather, our friend Brett, and I started the evening out at a Mexican restaurant called Jalapenos. I had heard good/dangerous things about a drink called the Big Mama, which was a margarita with like 5 shots of tequila in it :/

After that we went bowling and threw down some more beer. I bowled an embarassing 83 with no ability for redemption as we only bowled one game. We met up with some other cool people including an exchange student from Italy who is hilarious. The plan was to go bar hopping but we decided to just go to this temple bar and hang out there for a while. It was nice...maybe a little too nice. I told Grant the next day that I am a fan of bars with TV's, which this bar did not have. I cannot ignore my roots.

Anyways, Saturday I was supposed to go to a campaign rally for Dino Rossi but completely forgot about it and decided instead to go the way of online poker. I had a pretty good day on Saturday. I qualified for the Sunday $200 and took 2nd in a $10 no guaranteed tourney on FTP. LMAO!! I love it because I can't do anything on that site except for going deep in these small tourneys. Might be a correlation. Anyways, it was rigged because I had AK against K8 on a K 8 3 against an idiot heads up. I won a little over $400 for my efforts. Boooooooooooo!!!!

I decided to get a little revenge on the hardwood on Saturday as Grant and I returned to Century 21 lanes. I really feel like I should be getting better at bowling - primarily because it is a non-major sport, and my last name is Graves. My first game I bowled an impressive 155ish. I beat Grant by like 35 pins in the line-setting game and I def. got the worst of it when I gave him 20 pins on accident :'( I obviously bowled like a 112 in the second game and got destroyed by Grant "the hustler" Landram.

Anyways, we had a pitcher or two there then I was getting the itch so we headed to the Pitch. In a bizarre turn of events, Grant did not hit a jackpot. I anticipated casually drinking a pitcher or two, but my friend Louie bought me 3 random shots to which I obliged. Probably the worst thing for me is to continue my winning streak at the Pitch when I am lit. I remember learning something in psychology about false atribution where you falsely correlate two events, and this may be the case. I undoubtedly do not play as sharp when I am drunk, but who knows? I was horsing Grant, and combined we made $70 which was cool. I think the only hand I remember was limping in with 55, and Grant told me he mucked one. The door card was a 5, and I won a nice sized pot.

Sunday didn't go very well. I woke up kinda early and played in the $5k sniper - the one that I chopped last week. I was short and reshipped AJ and was called by K9dd and lost. In the $200, I played a little bit sloppy early on. I definitely had a very weak table and was trying to splash around. I was paying really good attention to players and trying to figure out areas that I could exploit. I was taking notes on nearly every showdown pot but things just didn't really work out. I ended up getting down to 1600 at 75/150 and raising TT from the SB unopened. The BB flatted with AJ, and I shipped in on a K J x. I slammed my laptop before I even saw the turn.

The rest of the night was not memorable. I played some $100NL and lost about $160 and whiffed the 9pm $8k about 10 minutes in when I had 54cc against an EP limper/maniac who had 9-5o on a 9 5 4 flop, hehe.

Today I had class at 10 and was pleased to find that I will be able to take my Wednesday test on Friday which I may do. If I muster up the courage to take it on Wednesday, I will be able to go out on Thursday after another test on Thursday. I got some studying done then went to the gym. The plan was to ride the bike then do some abs and some bi's and tri's. I started shooting hoops then just opted to go home and play some online feeling no motivation to work out which is not good.

I got home and immediately fired up 8 tables, the most that I have played in a while. I felt pretty comfortable and in control playing $100NL. I played pretty sloppy but also didn't run very great and ended up losing a little over 2 BI's. I have been playing on my desktop which I don't have Poker Tracker on which is frustrating. I have to label everyone via poker-edge before every session which gets annoying. Also, on my laptop, when I minimize UB tables, the stats from my PokerAce HUD don't shrink, so I am tilted that I either have to leave the tables at their default size or turn it off and pull it up whenever I get in a pot with someone.

Anyways, today I also played in the 5pm $6k which I busted in a little over an hour in. I made it to the 600/1200 level in the FTP $32k but shoved J6o for 7 bb's unopened from the c/o and the button had JJ. I was thinking about this shove and really don't think it was correct. I should be shoving the top 30-35% of hands there but I don't think J6 should be in my shoving range. Oh well. I watched some Poker X Factor videos of AJKHoosier1 and learned a lot which is cool. I then played in the 9pm and whiffed at 75/150 when I shoved for 1400 with KQo and was called by 88 and QQ and missed.

I haven't been all that disappointed these last couple days with the lack of success. I still feel very confident and comfortable in my abilities and hope that this can translate to some success on FTP soon. I cannot explain the thrill of FT'ing one of those tournaments and the background changes to where there are lights and cameras and stuff. It's pretty cool.

Anyways, I feel quite lazy after about 3 straight unproductive, lazy weekends but feel that I need to take full advantage of these times before next year when I am expected to get a job and w/e comes along with that. I am going to cherish these days where I go to class for an hour and a half then come home and grind for 6 or 7 hours.

Oh ya, the Hawks won yesterday, and I think we need to get to 8-8 in order to have a shot in the division. All can change this week if we beat Philly, although we opened at 7 point dogs.

Well it's time for me to go to bed. I'm not sure if I will have a whole lot of time for online this week but, if I do, I will be a slight dog to win a tourney. Feeling good right now.

God Bless,

JG

Chopped for 1st in UB $8k!

Alright, now we are rolling. After the win on Wednesday, I took Thursday off because I had to write a paper and had a test on Friday. I got the paper done and the test was alright. I tried to clear my weekend in preparation for the UBOC, but apparently I am an idiot, and the UBOC is actually in January, lol!

Oh well, I wasn't going to let that stop me. Friday night was pretty cool. No drinking or anything just MTT's. I signed up for the 4pm $5r. I'm not going to detail too many hands, but I managed to come to the FT 10th in chips. I chipped up and was chip-leader with 7 left. I lost a big race with 66 against AJ and then came the bust hand. With around 400k in chips, I raised to 60k at 12/24k I believe, with 88. I got flatted by the button. The flop came K 4 3r. I decided to check with no plan. The guy bet 65k, less than 1/2 pot. The only hand with a K in it that he could have was KQ. So I decided to go with it and jammed for 340k. He insta-called with KQ and held.

So I got like $300 in that. I was also deep in the 6:20 $7.5k. I ended up finishing in 12th in that which was kinda depressing. Overall, a pretty good day though.

Yesterday (Saturday), Pete came up, and we planned on giving into our vices to that max. We went to Sudden Valley to play some golf. I started off par-birdie-birdie. Then I missed a 3-footer on 4 for par. I parred 6 and birdied 7 and 8 before I bogeyed 9 from middle of the fairway with a 9-iron. Overall, 4 birdies, 3 bogeys. Oh well.

After that we got some port of subs and I picked up some crickets for Samantha, my pet scorpion. We started throwing down some Coors Lights and I played one table of $1-$2NL. It was kinda a roller coaster. I bought in $200, was up to $300 then down to $60 after I ran AQ into a limped QQ on a Q x x A x board :(

I ended up stacking this maniac when I iso-raised his limp with K9dd. HU we saw a 4 3 2ddd flop. He checked and I bet like $8 into a $23. He bet pot, and I flat called. The turn was an offsuit A, and he moved in. I called and the pot was shipped to me when he showed 10-7ss. WEEEEE!!!!!!!

After about 6-7 beers each we taxied it to the Pitch to play some 4-8 and drink pitchers. Not that I got super drunk but I don't really remember a ton of the hands. I DO remember raising the turn against this super nitty asian woman with K8 on a K 7 6 8. She just called my raise with 10-9. The river was a K, and she bet out again and called me raise hehe.

That was a fun night that included Grant stopping by the bank on the way back, and Peter hijacked the car and drove around the block, risking both of our lives lol :/ We made it home safely thank God.

Today I woke up around 9:30, set my fantasy lineup, and immediately started signing up for $200k qualifiers. I whiffed about 4 of them but was going deep in the 11am which is a $30 sniper, $5k guaranteed.

There weren't too many interesting hands other than me winning a big race with JJ against AQ for pretty much all of my stack in a 10k pot at 150/300. I cruised to the FT 4th in chips with like 40k in chips at 1k/2k. I chipped up relatively easy at the table, and there were not really any players that were 3-betting me light p/f.

I knocked out 2 players when I found KK in the SB, and AQ and 77 moved in, and I held. That got me up around 100k with like 4 or 5 players left. I continued my hyper-aggression 4-handed and got HU with a slight chip-lead against this player who had been playing really tight.

The blinds moved up to 5/10k with like 360k chips in play, so when he offered to chop, I obliged. With $2150 left in the prize pool, we decided to each take $1,000 and play for the remaining $150. I did this because of the huge pay jumps on UB. Anyways, I didn't really adjust to the fast structure and ended up losing in a silly bust hand. He limped the button, and I checked J2. The flop came 5 6 7. Check, check. Turn J, and I led 14k into a 22. He called. River the stupid 2x. I was a little bit suspicious but decided to try and get some value if he had a J. I led 24k into a 50k. He "tanked" and moved me in, and I said "nh" and called, and he showed 8-4. Oh well, at least we made a deal.

I am trying to hurry up and finish this blog because the Hawks are playing on Sunday night against the Bucs. I just wanted to reiterate how silly life and poker is. When I started playing today, I just sat there thinking how incredibly confident I was that I was going to go deep in one of the tourneys I was playing. Ahh, the power of positive thinking. But seriously, things feel good and I am really liking the way that I'm playing. Despite seemingly not making a FT all summer, I have made 3 in the past 4 days including 1 1/2 wins. Man, feels good.

Anyways, it's 5pm. I haven't showered and the Hawks are about to start, so it's time to go do work.

LET'S GO HAWKS!!!!!!

JG

8k Recap + UBOC This Weekend

So I have been looking forward to writing this post since last night. Whereas I was very happy when I went to bed last night, I had a hard time falling asleep and ended up watching half of Fun with Dick and Jane. First for a tourney recap:

Early on at 15/30, a player shoved for 900 with T6o, and I found AA and called, which got me up to 3k from the 2k starting stack. A few hands later, at 20/40, I iso-raised a station with AKo, raising to 160. He decided to ship in for like 1200 total, and I thought about it and called, and he showed 77 and held. That had me down to 1400.

At 30/60, I picked up 88 in the SB. EP big stack who I had already noted had 4-bet 66 min-raised. Player called behind, and I decided to 3-bet and go with the hand. I made it 450 to go, leaving myself 800 behind. The OR 4-bet AI, and I called, and he showed AQ. We saw a fun board of Q x x x 8 to give me some life, back at 2500 at the 1st break.

There weren't a whole lot of memorable hands in the 2nd hour, except that I tilt-raised 86hh after I had lost a pot to 750 (150/300, 25 ante). The BB called, and we saw a 10d 8d 4x flop. The pot was at like 1900, and the effective stacks were 3500 after the p/f action (I had him covered by about 700 chips). After he checked, I decided to lead 925 with the intention of going with the hand. I got c/r'd AI and called, and he showed a sick K7dd. I somehow managed to fade that flip to get up to a little over 10k.

After dropping down to about 8k at 200/400, a very interesting hand came up that tourned the tourney around for me. I had A3dd in the c/o, and there was a very bad UTG limper. It mucked to me and I decided to limp because the blinds were also not very good. 4-handed, we saw a 9s 8s 3x flop. With 2400 in the pot, SB led for 600. It mucked to me with Grant behind me watching. I felt quite strongly that he was either on a draw or perhaps a weak 9 or 8. I decided to raise to 1600, hoping to pick the pot up cheaply. The player called very quickly, and the turn was the beautiful 3h. He led for 1k really fast, and, at this point, I was fairly certain that he was on a draw. It just didn't make sense for him to have a 9 here with this line and his bet-sizing. Instead of moving him in, I decided to milk it and raise to 2500. He insta-called, and the river was the gross 9h. I said I was going to puke if he moved in. He of course moved in for 2400, which was my chip stack. Looking at the board, I was confused but was actually contemplating a fold. Grant said that he couldn't see how I could press fold. The odd thing was that my hand has to look like a 9. I, however, pressed call, and he showed KQss, pushing my stack up to 15k. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

As the field got narrowed to 3 tables, I was not above the chip average for very long. It was actually a pretty mundane tournament for the most part. At one point, I was 20th of 23 with 20 spots paying. I managed to steal enough b's and a's to stay afloat as I made my way into the money with 11k at 500/1k blinds.

When we got down to 2 tables, things got pretty fun/funny. Based on my recent tournament drought with the exception of the $2r, I did not have high expectations for the tournament, even though I was 20 spots away from 2.3k. I kept stealing the blinds and antes with very little resistance and felt good about not having to jam my 9-10bb stack.

Anyways, with 2 tables left, my friend Heather arrived, just getting back from the bars. We actually got into a pretty awesome, deep conversation that I really enjoyed, while not really even concentrating on my table. It was actually really ironic. This whole summer, I had been really trying to force things to happen, perhaps thinking about things too much without putting things on cruise control and letting my natural skills and abilities take over. Of course, it also helps when you get QQ and KK within 2 orbits and get in against AJ and AT respectively and hold, hehe.

After those hands, I found myself with 35k in chips. Like I said, I hardly re-stole at all without the nuts. I was talking with Grant about this, but I felt like the field was pretty weak and, with the exception of a few people, no one was really raising/re-raising light. Because of this, I didn't really feel like open-shoving marginal hands from EP-MP for 9-11bb's. I felt like, because the players weren't adjusting to light shoves, their calling range would be smaller, and I could afford to wait until I was down to 7-8bb's to shove light. Interesting concept that really allowed me to chip up with little resistance.

I made it to the FT in 5th place with 35k in chips at 1k/2k. (btw, I apologize, Pete, for using "k" instead of thousand. I hope that you are now numb to it. If you want me to stop using "k", you will have to change your text message ringer). Not a whole lot happened at the FT tbh. A good TAG player was seated 2 seats to my left and raised 3 out of the first 6 hands, winning the blinds and antes each time. But he was eliminated when he got in with AKo against 88 in a huge pot and lost. I got a little antsy and raised J10o from 3rd pos. at 1200/2400 to 6000. The BB re-shipped, and I folded. I was down to 24k at this point.

This is when people just started getting eliminated. I raised a couple hands in position and stole the blinds and antes and maintained a 10-15bb stack for a while. Without getting into too much detail, I managed to get down to 5-handed. Still at 1200/2400, I moved in for 19k from the c/o with AKo. Button re-ships with AJo, and we see a board of KQxxJ to double me up to like 44k. I hung around this stack for a while, while a big stack SLAP continued to eliminate players. Before I knew it, we were 4-handed, and then we were 3-handed, and I was guaranteed like 900. The first hand that we played 3-handed, I was at 33k at 1500/3000. The other two players had 180k and 150k each. The button idiot opts to move in for 180k. The BB tanks, and I am obv rooting for a call. He ends up calling with AJo agains the button's A9o. I was estatic but also didn't really like the AJ call, given he had 50bb's and could easily find a better place to get it in, especially with me sitting with 30k. Oh well, he did get it in as a 3/1 fav. but lost when A9 flopped a 9.

Suddenly I found myself HU and guaranteted $1,300. I was so pumped and ready to just get the money in and be done with it. I jokingly asked him if he wanted to chop, as he had a 12:1 chip advantage on me. He didn't respond and began open-shoving seemingly any 2 on the button. I limped KK on the button at 1500/3000 with 22k behind (HAHA!!) and got all in against his J2 on a J 10 8 flop and held. That got me up to 50ish. After slipping back to 40k, I got it AI with him with KQ against his A5 p/f and flopped a K to double. A couple hands later I checked J5 from the BB after he limped. The flop came QJ5ddd. I led for 5k, and he potted. I moved in, and he called with KK no diamond. I held that and, all of the sudden, I had 150k, and he had 180k.

He then offered to chop, and I was really contemplating chopping, as the difference between 2nd and 1st was almost 1k. I then asked if he wanted to, and he said, "lol". He apparently was joking. This made me so happy inside and now, I felt, karma was on my side.

I then called a raise with A8o from the BB, and we saw a A J 9 flop. I checked, and he insta-bet pot at 26k. I typed in "gl me" to buffman in AIM and moved in. He snap called with QT. The turn was a T, and the river bricked, and I was now in a commanding chip position with 260k to his 60k. The very next hand I limp AKo on the button expecting him to move in. He instead checks, and I win the pot on a A Q 8 flop. I believe 2 hands later, I pick up AA in the BB. He moves in for 65k at 2k/4k. I snap call and stand up, he shows 87ss. The flop comes a beautiful QJ4 no spade. I yelled for the turn to not give him any outs, and the turn peeled off a seemingly innocent 9. I said, "YES" before I realized he turned a gutter. The river was a T to teach me a lesson about celebrating early, and he was back to 130k to my 200k.

A couple hands later, I was in the BB with KJcc. He limped for 4k, and I made it 14k. He called. Flop came K 9 7s. I decided to do the cute-lead for 10k. He bet pot, and I moved in. He called and showed a beautiful J9ss. The turn was the 6s for a fun UB sweat, and the river bricked for me to win the tournament.

Before I got a chance to type anything in AIM or on facebook, I told Grant we're going to McDonald's to maximize our monopoly-winning potential. After two large Big Mac meals, the night was probably perfect.

It is amazing to me how weird life is. My last post before last night was entitled "Life Tilt". I am now as pumped as ever about poker. I felt that I played an amazing tournament and cannot recall a overly poor decision that I made. Everything just sort of came together, and I won enough races to win a tournament. I am going to withdraw a decent amount to live off of for a month or two and keep around 2,000 in my account.

That being said, the UBOC starts tomorrow, and I am incredibly excited. I will be playing pretty much all of the mini-tournaments, which range from $10r's to $50 tourneys. The lineups look pretty sick. Saturday, there is a $50 HU tournament that will be fun. Grant and I are doing a bet to see who can profit the most amount of money from these tournaments. The winner gets to choose the loser's Halloween costume. I would greatly appreciate some suggestions!

Well, me going deep in last night's tournament means that I didn't study for my test tomorrow, nor the quiz today, nor did I finish/start a paper that is due on Tuesday. So my weekend is pretty set for me, and I am really looking forward to it.

I will try to update my blog after every UBOC tournament for all of my loyal readers :)

God Bless,

JG

Won the 9pm!!!

WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! I just won the $8k on UB for $2.3kish. This couldn't have come at a better time. It is 2am here and I have 10am class, so I'm going to go to bed and recap the tourney when I get a chance tomorrow. I will say that I floated between 10-20bb's for the entire FT, and, when we got down to 6-handed, people just started dropping. I got HU with a 12:1 chip disadvantage and somehow managed to win.

Complete recap to follow tomorrow. I am going to sleep really really well tonight.

God Bless,

JG

Life Tilt

Before this weekend started, I probably wouldn't have thought that the title of this blog would be "life tilt". It was so promising, and yet, here I am.

Friday night, Grant, me, and our friend Colin started the festivities off by going bowling and throwing down a pitcher or two. My first two games, I averaged 150ish and then obviously show up with a 112 when Grant and I decide to put some money down. Funny how it works like that. After bowling, we headed down to Bob's Burgers to drink and watch the ALCS game. Boy was this a fun way to kill 3+ hours. I regrettably let Grant choose who he wanted in the game, and he took Tampa, so I was forced to root for the Red Sox. As it turned out, the Sox won, and I was up $10. However...

There were a few more prop bets throughout the evening, and I will list some of the ones that I remember:

• o/u 26 1/2 years of our waitress' age (I lost, setting in awful line...she was actually 22 :/)
• o/u 1/2 homerun for the game (this was set in the 4th inning, and somehow no one hit a homerun - unfortunate for me)
• o/u 1 month that a couple in front of us had been together (Grant took the over, and we found out they had been together for 3 months. Pretty bad line considering he ordered the largest mushroom burger I had ever seen)
• o/u the amount of time it would take this lady to finish her drink. Okay, this one was stupid. She ordered the beer at approximately 6:25, and I set the line at 6:47. She finished at approximately 6:53. IT'S ONE BEER!!!
• o/u 1 alcoholic drink ordered by this one couple. This was also stupid but an awful line. There was some drama, however, when only the lady ordered a beer, and the guy ordered a diet pepsi. Unfortunately, after her 30 minute beer, they proceeded to order several rounds of shots. TILT
• I then finally got the best of a line giving Grant 12.5:1 on Daisuke throwing a no-hitter in the 7th inning.
  

There were several others, but these were the significant ones. Overall, I was down a modest $11.50 overall. Not too shabby. After that, we went to a friend's party and had a good time.

Saturday I woke up and drove down south for the Battle in Seattle. I don't go to Western football games, so I figured I would need some alcohol in my system to enjoy it. We went to the Pyramid Brewery before the game and threw down some drinks. Our friend Heather then got us into the Western party in a bar inside the stadium which was pretty cool. Again I got the best of Grant giving him Western and 14 points as well as the over. Saturday was fun, but then came Sunday.

Derek and I were planning on tailgating before the Hawks game, but he forgot to set his alarm, and we didn't wake up until about 8am which is far too late to aggressively tailgate. We should have just stayed home probably.

We got down there and went to a cool bar called the Hawk's Nest. It's funny how, after 2 nights of drinking, you just kinda wanna take it easy and not go at it too hard. But that wouldn't be right before a Hawks game. Derek and I had 12 Coors Lights, two touchdown shots, and 4 "red-headed slut" shots. After a $90 bar tab, we headed into the game nice and toasty. The highlight of the afternoon was Derek paying me $100 to go get him Garlic Fries, which meant I was off his list. WEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

The game was pretty ugly. Hasselbeck was out, so we had a pathetic Charlie Frye in at QB. Our offense was lethargic. After 3 quarters, we had a total of 28 passing yards. This is coming from the same team that was such a successful passing team just one year ago. What a difference a year makes. We left halfway through the 4th quarter after Frye threw a pick, and we were down 24-10. This is the primary reason for my sadness.

I'm not sure who in the world could have predicted a 1-4 start. We have lost our top 6 receivers, our quarterback for a game, and our defense is playing completely uninspired football. I'm not really sure what else to say about it. I am real sick of going to every home game and getting up for my team for 60 minutes and then watch a very talented team play without a sense of urgency. It's like they expect to walk into the playoffs. At one point during the game, GB was driving, and I just sat there with my head in my lap, knowing that it was out of my control. As someone that considers themself a true, die-hard fan, I am sad to say that it came to that today. I don't see the Hawks getting out of this hole. I think that this was a must-win game if we had any plans on making it to the playoffs. We now must try and focus on getting better every week and see what happens. This could get ugly really fast. 1-7 may be on the horizon for this team.

Enough of that. After the game, I drove up and made a stop at Tulalip to play a session to kill time and to sulk. I decided to sit back and wait to cooler someone and double through them. 2nd orbit, I pick up 33 on the button in an unraised pot, and like 6 of us saw a 8 5 3 flop. SB leads $6 with 2 callers, and I decide to milk, making it $18. All 3 call. Turn a 5, and it checks to this woman station who leads $20. I was pretty sure she had a 5, so I tank-called, hoping to get overcalled behind me. They both muck. The river was a K. She led $20 again, and, at this point, I was fairly certain she had a 5 and would call a shove. I moved in for $103, and she somehow finds a fold. Not really sure what she had, but I didn't bother to ask.

After this hand not a whole lot happened. I stayed afloat and eventually cashed out up $70. This will help with paying 2 people off who I bet the Hawks against.

Since my last post, I FINALLY final tabled a tournament, coming in the prestigious $2r on UB. I cruised pretty easily with Peter railing and, at my highest point, got to like 1.5m chips 3-handed. I eventually busted in 3rd after getting kinda cute with AA and losing to a flush. I got $345 for this which was okay. I was actually really happy with the tournament and felt like it could be a step toward getting back on track.

My power chord on my laptop just decided to stop working, so I am having to play on my desktop which is meh. I am using an lcd monitor and can't quite seem to get the resolution right, so everything is a little bit weird. Oh well. I got a steal of a price on a power chord on EBay, so it shouldn't be too long before I'm playing in bed while watching TV.

This week might suck. I have homework due on Wednesday, which is a rarity, and I have a quiz on Thursday, a test on Friday, and a paper due next Tuesday. Hopefully I can find some time to get all this done and play some poker.

It's 10pm and I am exhausted. So, as weird as it sounds, I am going to go to bed.

God Bless,

JG