Bad Sunday

This weekend was pretty fun. On Friday night a group of us went out to Red Robin to celebrate a friend of our's birthday. It was fun, and I won an earlier bet against Grant so he had to pick up my tab. I didn't punish him as hard as I could have but nonetheless had a couple beers and a long island iced tea.

After that we went and picked up some beer and headed to a party at the house of this girl whose birthday it was. It was a lot of fun as we mostly just played a lot of pool and beer pong and binge drank.

Saturday was also pretty laid back. Grant's car unfortunately died but we decided to go and play some golf. We headed over to Padden and I started off miserably. I hit a decent tee shot on one but blocked my 9-iron approach shot at least 30 degrees right of target. I just sat there looking at it then looking back and Grant and then back at where the ball ended up. I couldn't believe it. I was like +6 through 6 but then parred out to salvage a little confidence.

After that we came home, and I went to church with a couple good friends. We then headed out to another party after church. My friends Steven, Rob, and I then got the urge for some dumplings. The plan was to catch a bus, but they apparently stopped running, so we were sad. It was probably a mile and a half walk, so we unsuccessfully tried to call a cab. We eventually settled on hitchiking with a 10 dollar bill in our hand. Someone in a geo-metro like car with already 3 people in it stopped. We piled in, me sitting on Steven's lap, and drove down to get dumplings. To this day, this will be known as a top-10 best use of a $10 bill.

Today I tried to wake up at 10 but simply couldn't find it in me, sleeping in 'til 11. I opted not to attend the Hawks game today as I was tired and didn't feel like driving 100 miles to see the Hawks get embarassed at home. Turned out to be a good decision as the Hawks lost by 6, even though they were severilly outplayed the entire game.

I signed up for a ton of tourneys and was looking to do something. I whiffed on 2 or 3 satellites for bigger tournaments including taking 6th in a $200k qualifier with 4 spots paying the entry and 5th winning $40. I was chipleader with 6 left which was even more disappointing.

Everything else was just kinda bad. I just wasn't in the right mood or zone to do well. I am starting to think that I don't like playing on my laptop. There is just something about the size of the screen and the fact that it runs extremely slow when I have PokerAce HUD running. Well, as if a sign from God, I hit my laptop pretty hard after busting from the final 3 tournies of the day within 2 minutes. It then froze and I am unable to start it now. OOPS.

Anyways, Grant and I then went to see Role Models which actually surprised and was pretty funny. I didn't think it was rated R and was quite shocked with the language, lol. Anyways, we got back a couple of hours ago and I haven't really done anything too productive. I did happen to wander to thepokerdb.com, and they are apparently having a free trial weekend where all of their exclusive data that is only seen to paying members is available to everyone. I decided to check out my stats on UB since 2006, and here they are:

• Tournies played: 858
• Winnings: $40,094.95
• Buy-ins: $22,167.46
• Rake: $1,902.40
• Profit: $16,025.09
• ROI: 61.1%

I went to compare these stats to some online pros, and I struggled to find many that were even near this ROI. Now I understand that the average buy-in of my tournaments is much lower and, thus, the quality of play is going to be worse, but it is still encouraging to know that, over a large sample size, I am still a profitable player. My ROI on FTP was actually negative through 106 tournaments, which was to be expected. I haven't done anything on there for whatever reason. I just don't feel very confident, whether it be the software or the look/feel. I do love the volume and payouts of their tourney and maybe it is just a matter of having some success on there to enjoy it, but that hasn't really happened thus far.

I had a shallow cash in the $12.5k gtd. tourney on there today but that was sadly my only cash of the day. I am not too demoralized or anything, but it does sting to have a day completely devoted to online with no success. I am going to try to put in some tourneys at least two weekdays this week but it may be tough with school stuff and tests/quizzes coming up.

That being said, my brother Pete sent me a text earlier this week saying he was contemplating coming up on Wednesday which would be amazing. I can only hope that this unemployment thing happens through the end of the year so as to not interfere with Pete and Joel's month of fun (PAJMOF) :)

God Bless,

JG

Florida Recap

I just got back up to Bellingham after spending the last 5+ days in Florida. It was a very memorable trip and was kinda tough going from 80+ degree weather to cold rain and flood warnings. But I guess that's the price you pay. Anyways, my brother Paul got married, and we also did a little vacationing to Orlando which was really cool.

Our flight on Friday was scheduled for 11:30pm, so we did the whole red eye thing, and I made the poor, poor decision of taking a benodryl before the flight assuming I would be able to sleep on the plane. This was not the case. I ended up not sleeping for more than 30 minutes, as I apparently cannot sleep in any seat except the window.

We arrived in Orlando at around 8, but this wasn't even the funniest part. Derek took a flight on Friday at 3pm, flew to Utah then to LA, and there was a 3 hour delay there because the bathrooms on the plane wouldn't shot! So he arrived in Tampa about 1 hour before us despite him leaving over 8 hours before us.

When we got there, my body told me it was Friday night but it was apparently Saturday. We went over to Paul's fiancee Ramie's mom's house for an open house which was pretty cool despite the fact that we didn't see any aligators :(

That night we had rehearsal then went to a very nice dinner. The wedding itself was on Sunday and was absolutely amazing despite the Hawks losing. The sick part about the Hawks losing was the following gamecast updates that I received on my phone in the 4th quarter:

• 19-21 (after a Hawks TD): Mike Wahle, holding 5 yd penalty on 2 point conversion
• 19-21: pass complete to Carlson (2 pt conversion good)
• 19-21: Chad Pennington is sacked and fumble is recovered by Rocky Bernard
• 19-21: Ricky Williams rush for 14 yards

So apparently the 2 point conversion was no good, and so I thought we were tied and then recovered a fumble which also was apparently misreported. Oh well, apparently we played well and we are getting Matt back this week so maybe we can start to get better in prep for next season.

Anyways, Monday we headed over to Orlando, and our 100 mile trip took 4+ hours for some reason. We did stop by a cool white-sand beach but we also made like 4 unnecessary stops for some reason. For lunch we saw a sign for Quizno's and decided to stop. When we were pulling off the exti, I saw a Sonic drive in and immediately became happy. It has been one of my life-long dreams to eat there as the commercials make the food/desserts look so good and there are no Sonics in Washington to my knowledge.

When I walked over to check out the menu, no food looked good, and so I opted in favor of a Quizno's Honey Bourbon Chicken sandwich. I did however purchase a Sonic Blast for dessert which was good haha.

That night we went to play putt putt at a place called Congo River. There was actually an alligator pit with baby alligators. I was tempted to take one home. Derek and I decided to wager $20 on stroke play and $20 on match play with a sweeping bonus of all-you-can-eat crab. I knew I had to be at least a -125, so I obliged. I got out to a 3 stroke/hole lead through 4 but saw it slip away when I decided to go for a big gamble on the 16th with the match on the line.

I then opted for double or nothing knowing he couldn't lucksack a win again. I won that one, and we were off for the night. The first night was at an all-you-can-eat Chinese Buffet which advertised a crab buffet. We sat down and learned that each buffet cost $35. I was hesitant but went with it, and we ate a ridiculous amount of crab and threw down some beers.

We then headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch MNF. We each had 3 very tall Coors Lights, while we played Chinese. Derek passed me a royal, and I ended up 14 points for $70, hehe.

I'm not going to go into the rest of the events that took place that evening but if you are curious, I may just tell you privately.

The next day we woke up and went to Disneyworld. We hit up the most important rides first (Splash, space, thunder mtn, pirates, which sucked, and the haunted mansion). We settled on Splash as easily the most enjoyable ride and rode it 8 times before running out of daylight.

On the flight home, Pete and I opened up the cards and played an enjoyable .5 a point Chinese. Pete declined to do jackpots/bad beats, and would have scooped a ton off me, as he had like 3 straight flushes and lost with Aces full. I ended up scooping $1.50 - good for a cheap plate at Sushi Land.

Overall it was a very enjoyable vacation and it was fun to get away from the daily grind of school to hang out with family and get to know the other side of the family better also. I did, however, lose my iPod somehow and am quite sad. I figure I was a -200 to lose something worth over $100 on the vacation, so I'm not too surprised.

We arrived in Seattle today around 11:30, and I made it up to Bellingham a little after 7pm. I played in the FTP $24k and the $15k rebuy on UB. I busted in the 2nd hour in the FTP when I lost a big race with JJ vs. AK on a x x x x A. In the UB one, I decided to only be in $90 max and was down to 900 after the first hour. Then the option to add-on popped up (or so I thought), so I double added on for $60, only it first gave me the option to rebuy for 1500 chips/$30. So I spent $60 there for 3000 chips instead of declining and just adding on for $60 and receiving 6000 chips. So I was then "forced" to single add on and was in $120 with $90 worth of chips :(

I played actually really well and doubled up in an interesting pot. I raised A8o from the HJ to 400 (75/150). The BB who was a maniac called, and we saw a 7c 4c 4s flop. He checked, and I led 525, which he called. The turn was the interesting 8d. He checked, and I decided to lead 1525 of my 3500 chip stack and go with the hand. He again flatted, and the river was the Ks. The pot was over 7k, and I had 2k behind, but he foolishly put me in and I called, and he showed A9cc.

That got me up to over 11k, and not too much happened for a while. I slowly chipped up and reached my peak of 24k at 400/800. With 22 left and 20 paying, I raised a pot and got moved in and mucked which had me down to 17k at 800/1600. The very next hand I was dealt 77, and unfortunately had to shove my 10+bb stack. A LPP called with TT and I bricked. This was eerily similar to the $120 tourney that I played this summer where I fought my ass off and ended up shoving 66 for around 10 bb's and was called by TT on the bubble.

I wasn't all that disappointed about the tournament. If I had finished 20th I would have received $150 for a $30 profit, so I was obviously eyeing the FT. I played pretty patient and was just defeated by the poor UB structure late. I am actually happy that I did not get all that upset as maybe I am maturing as a poker player and as a person. I will not be playing poker tomorrow or Friday I don't think but will probably hit it hard on Saturday and Sunday and try to make something magical happen :)

That being said, it is 11:15pm, but my body says it's 2am so I am going to bed. BTW, Peter mentioned on the trip that I am meant to live on the east coast which is probably the case. I love staying up late and sleeping in, and, when you're on the east coast, MNF doesn't start until 8:30 and goes past midnight. Hmmmm...something to think about.

God Bless,

JG

Nothing Too Exciting

So I just attended a fun little thing called Viking Jam that is basically like a prep rally type thing for Western basketball. It was kinda cool despite the fact that I had two prizes thrown into the audience go right between my fingertips. I did, however, manage to snag a gold chocolate coin and a miniature snickers. YAY.

Not too much has been going on lately. I'm pwning school right now. I'm on a sick run akin to my latest poker hot streak. It might just be that my schedule really isn't all that hard this quarter, but I am taking 3 econ classes and have been dominating. I really feel like things are clicking right now and I am actually enjoying the college life. I intentionally decided to not get involved in too many things this year and not work so that I can enjoy a social life, which has been fun. It has even cut into my poker playing which is kinda neat as I haven't gotten into the rhythm of going home and playing poker every single day.

Speaking of poker, I haven't played too much as of late. Last weekend was Halloween, and, as my last blog touched on (I think), I had a little too much too drink. I was somehow able to fade the throw up which was nice, and the Top Ramen that I eventually made had to have been the top 5 best things I have ever eaten. Then on Saturday I went home and saw Zack and Miri make a porno with Derek and Pete, which actually surprised me. Darryl from the Office was awesome, and I expect him to get pretty popular really soon.

Sunday Derek and I went to the Hawks game. We went to Safeway the night before and got a pack of beef cubes. We then went home and marinated them in this really awesome/spicy sauce that Derek came up with. We then aggressively set our alarms for 6:30am, picked up a 24 pack of Coors Light and ice and actually made it down to the tailgating spot by 7:45.

We then got absolutely played by a couple of bums. We had drinken our fair share of beer when two bums approached us. One of them was from Australia (I could get into talking about what I thought this guy's life story was and how he made it to America, homeless, but I will save that for another day). Derek and I were playing Chinese (I was up a modest amount), and the guy asked if we wanted to see a magic trick. Of course we obliged. He then said that if he could pick out our card from a pile, we owed him a beer. I said okay, and he did his thing and picked out our card. I then reached for the cooler and got him a beer. He then apparently put the beer in his pocket while we weren't paying attention, and then he proceeded to tell us how he did the trick. When he was finished, and we were all laughing, he said, "alright, now you have to give me a beer". I was like, "I already gave you one", and he said, "no you didn't". Derek was drunk and said, "I'm pretty sure you didn't", and so I gave him another, lol. SOUL OWNED!

Anyways, the game sucked as usual. Koren Robinson scored a 90 yd. TD on the first offensive play from scrimmage, and we didn't score again. The season is over, and it's really really depressing. I'm not going to dwell on that.

Then Monday, I played some online, going deep in the 4pm $5r and the 5pm $6k Sniper. I bubbled the $6k then was down to 20 in the 5r. I was extremely in control, raising up front pretty light in situations because no one was 3-betting light. This made it extremely fun. Everyone else was potting their p/f raises, coming in for 4.2x+.

I then made a really silly mistake in a weird hand. There was a UTG station limper at 3k/6k, to me in the HJ with AKo. I made it 26k trying to price him out of the pot. Mucked back to him, and he called. I had him covered by 22k. The flop came 9c 4x 2c, and he leads min (6k). This is a f/d like 75% of the time and 33, 55-88 the rest of the time. To bet the pot would have been like 83k, and he had like 90ish behind, so I just went ahead and moved him in, assuming he'd fold a f/d and most other hands he could have. He thought for 3 FULL seconds and called with J8cc. I wasn't too happy, and he had me down to 4 outs when the Jh peeled on the turn, and I missed.

Looking back at the hand, I did get it in with like 50% equity, so it's not TOO bad, but a call on the flop probably would have been more warranted probably only because the table was so bad, and I could have made it into the top 3 with little resistance by continuing my game of abusing their blinds. Oh well, just kinda sucks.

Last night, I fired up all 8 tables that were running at $100NL and felt that the games were probably the best I have ever seen. I would have played longer but it was like 12:30, and Conan was about to come on.

I have been thinking about how I can get better at 6-max $100NL, and it really comes down to just getting a feel for each table and adjusting accordingly. I had at least 3 tables last night with at least 3-fish/stations at each according to poker-edge.com, and so I had to iso-raise probably the top 25% of the hands from the button, c/o behind their limps. This is extremely profitable, but is something that you simply can't do in more agro games.

Another thing that I have been struggling with is trying to avoid spewing in spots where I don't go with my read. This is an area that I can and should improve greatly in. So many situations come up where I will pay off huge river bets against players that are simply never making a move. I tell myself before I press call that I am beat, but my right index finger gets the best of me. I really feel that, when I am playing my best, I am paying attention and picking up on things that other people simply aren't, and acting accordingly, regardless of the strength of my hand.

Well I have to go study for a test tomorrow then I have a test on Friday, and then it's off to Florida for 5 days for Paul's wedding/mini-vacation. I am really really excited for it, and am contemplating trying to find some time to squeeze in a round of golf. We'll see if that happens.

God Bless,

JG

I'm Hungry

Peter told me to start blogging today. I am extremely hungry. It's almost 3am, and I haven't consumed anything since 4pm except Top Ramen (which was damn fine). I have had a night out which was pretty awesome. We started out at a friend's house then went downtown to watch about 50 people perform the Thriller Dance. I made it down there in time but couldn't really see everything going on. Oh ya, I drank 1/2 a fifth before we went down, so I was "slightly" buzzed before we went down.

I apologize for not separating my topics into paragraphs. This happens when I drink. I decided to 8 table some $100 NL today. I was stuck a little less than a buy-in when the following hand came up:

Not too complicated. I had AKo and raised from 2nd pos. 3rd pos. potted to $15, and we had an interesting cold caller from the BB. Back to me I decided to tilt-raised to $50 and go with the hand. OR mucked (yaaaaaaaaay) and OC somehow found a call with $30 behind. I almost jumped out of my chair, but the flop came K 6 2, and I felt happy inside. He checked, and I moved him in for the $30 he had behind completely ignorant of his current range. He called and the board rolled out "banana, banana" and I win against his KQhh. TY for calling my 4-bet with K high!!! Weeeee....as I like to talk about, it is good that people like this are still using their own money to play online poker.

I came back tonight, extremely drunk, I might add, and shortstacked some $1-2 PLO as I might have said. I managed to run good and made a little over $100 which is fun. Not too many fun hands. I am deciding what to do in the future. If I want, I could probably manage my way through paying bills and rent if I devoted enough time to MTT's. But I typically have plans every day of the week which makes things difficult. I am going to have to make a sacrifice soon.

I love my friends and family and am drunk right now. I can't wait to go to Florida next weekend!

Hope this was a decent life update, Pete. Love you!

Joel