Another 'not poker post' - But if you're a fan of SSF4

Then it's totally worth it. These videos are more than just you basic tool-assisted combo videos you see flying around everywhere, these videos are highlight matches between many of Japan's best, including Daigo and Mago. It's a three part video, where the parts can be located here! and here!

Hope you SSF4 fans enjoy!

Bad run in Sunday tournys - But I flop quads!

I had a terrible weekend, in terms of tournament poker. Not terrible 'Oh I run bad, Oh I was card dead, Oh I had to shove there, etc, etc'. Or terrible in the sense that, you're playing a live tournament in Vegas, and it feels like you're sitting in a walk-on freezer. Terrible in the sense that.. you don't even get to play in any of them. I COMPLETELY missed the set of tournaments I was supposed to play, and that has made me a sad panda for the day.

Are those quads? Those look like quads.

On the small upside, I felt the urge to play some poker, but not just regular NLHE. I got bored and decided to play some Omaha Hi(micros, yay!), put in a decent session playing that. I was even so lucky to flop quads on the very first hand of my Omaha session, and even got paid off for it.



All in all, just another day trying to get my game together.

If you're not doing anything important today..

I suggest you download Pokerstars(if you don't have it already) and play in this tournament: Sunday Storm. It's a tournament with an 11USD buy-in with a guarantee of 1,000,000USD! It starts today @ 230PST so get on it!

GLHF to everyone that decides to play in it, and other Sunday major tournament today!

Before I get back on the poker grind..

Get back to playing already you lazy bum.

 A couple poker related interesting reads and videos!

+EV* A Poker Comic with Positive Expected Value - A poker comic! This is a series that pokes fun and shows how it is(just sliiiightly exagaterated) to be a professional poker player, with a family to support. They update every Wednesday and Sunday, so be sure to visit and show the artist some love.

Online Poker’s Big Winner - An article about Daniel Cates, a 21 year-old self made multimillionaire from poker. A surprisingly good read, and delves into the world of online poker players.

Why I don't tell people I play poker - A pretty funny Xtranormal video about why poker players as a whole don't usually tell people why we play poker for a living.

Well that's that for now, I promise I'll get back to putting in some volume of play, and there are a couple big online tournaments I'm going to be playing on Sunday, so I'll share how that goes as I get back to finally playing a good amount of poker.

Not a poker post - A friend's MW2 highlight video

Just a quick little post of a friend's highlight video. It's pretty good and you should all check it out!

Short update - Nice little rebound

I'm allowed to run good?

Just a quick little update on a short session I put in last night at the 1-2(200NL) live game at the casino. Not too much interesting happened, got into one big pot with a player that can't lay down a hand, and it was pretty much cruise control from there. Live poker is so eaaaasy, except for the parts where I run bad, and get sucked out on really hard :/

The Micros - Episode 1: Pilot

The Micros: A new web series that serializes the adventures of 'Chase Burger' a break-even donkey stuck in the micro limits, and his two friends. It's a very entertaining series so far, and is only getting better. Subscribe to them on YouTube, and leave them a couple comments as well to show your support!

Murphy's Law - I hate poker

Murphy's Law. If anything CAN go wrong, it WILL go wrong. Generally a maxim reserved for those with a highly pessimistic view on life, and everything in general. But last night, Murphy's Law existed, and it was out to steal all my money.

I start my session off very normally, like I always do: buying my chips, assessing weak/strong players at the table, etc, etc, and NOTHING out of the ordinary happen in the first hour of play. Then the shit storm began, it was first through a set over set encounter, a rarity, but hey shit happens every so often right? The very next hand, another set over set encounter. A few hands later KK vs AA against a VERY loose player. Cooler after cooler. Beat after beat. There were much more terrible things that happened, but if I were to remember any of them I'd probably blow up.

Murphy's Law. Some people choose just not to believe in it, until it suddenly happens to meet them and bite them in the ass. There'll be better days for sure, but to get there we have to deal with all the shitty ones first.

I AM NANONOKO - A Short Film by PokerStars Team Online (HD)

Interesting and entertaining documentary of Randy Lew, one of the greatest and most consistent online poker players to ever play. A player with very strong work ethic, AND he used to play Marvel? My hero.

Also Alex Valle sighting @2:56 of the video!

No poker today - except a small house game!

House games: the arena where poker is first introduced to most, a much more relaxed atmosphere than any casino out there, and a place where friends come together to enjoy each others company. But the company itself simply isn't enough, in house games you'll see the most creative plays come out of even the most amateur of players, a desire to prove ones self superior to the others, and just the sheer enjoyment of the game of poker.

Today after work, we played a small house game at a friend's place, a small sit n' go tournament with a 10 dollar buy-in. The atmosphere relaxed, and everyone settling into the game, we all shared our stories for the day and didn't take the game too seriously, for it was mostly a good excuse to hang out and catch up. In a very manly way.

I end up busting out of the tournament in this hand, where I flop quad-aces, the action ends up with me slow-playing this monster, and my opponent drawing into a royal flush. And as it was a house game, that got rubbed in by everyone for the rest of the drunken night. Well there's always another day to play, and maybe I could put in a couple good sessions at the casino this week!

Pre-flop aggression - a different perspective

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The standard train of thought bestowed upon us when we first learn how to play poker is to ramp up our pre-flop aggression, and to really push our hands, sometimes more than were comfortable with. In doing so we're put in many awkward situations, in bloated pots, with little to no clue in how to proceed in the hand, often giving up a lot of value that our hands give should be giving us.


This video training video gives us a newer perspective on how we should approach our pre-flop aggression, and how to combat villains that are overaggressive with their pre-flop play. It's entertaining as well! Lots of MSPaint bunnies, raccoons, and rocks.

I run good, and thats all.

So I was 8 tabling a session of 10NL today, and I ran pretty well. Was obviously pleased with the end result, but I wasn't too pleased with most of my play, as you can see I won almost every showdown, but my non-showdown winnings were sub-par. It was also my first session of poker multi-tabling in a while, so I was a bit overwhelming juggling 8 tables, but after a couple minutes or so I got back up to speed of my past play.


I know I should be happier with big wins(for the stakes) like this, but I just can't help but to think that I could have easily made more by making much better decisions.


Cliffs:
-Ran good in first session online since my break
-Need to work on non-showdown profit(stealing etc)
-I HATE POKER!

Nothing close to a poker post but..

..if anyone would like to play on PSN, add me@ JAMAL_SMITH.

You could usually find me playing SSF4 or Marvel Vs Capcom3.

1-2(200NL) Live - Cakewalk

There is just something magical about stepping into a poker room, a room full of enthralled by this game we all love, and everyone seems to be an expert at this game; sharing stories of grandeur, keeping up with the drama and little gossips of the latest tournament pros, and the sharing of the most recent bad-beats. What the majority or these people don't realize is this: playing 68/32(lol, HUDstats) and aggressively calling opens and 3-bets out of position is not profitable. At all. Period.

I start my session at my local Indian-Casino Poker room, already expecting to be cashing out at least one buy-in(BI) if not much, much more. I quickly identified the calling stations(ATMs, lol) and made sure to squeeze every bit of value I could from them. I find it too much of a hassle to deal with the nits, but they're especially easy to maneuver against, and especially easy to determine whether or not I should be betting for value, or shutting down til they let me catch up.

 I end up playing a short session of about 3 hours, which is about a mere 120-ish hands, and ran pretty standard, so I do end up cashing out about 550-ish USD? Not the greatest result ever, but I'm not down, and I'm slowly restarting my roll, which I'm completely fine with.

Needz more 'at least' standard sessions,and to start playing online again.

Busto - AGAIN.

In poker your bankroll, is your lifeblood. Without a sufficient bankroll, you are at the mercy of inevitable swings, and variance, no matter how good of a player you are. There are players with great bankroll management(BRM), they move up and down in stakes according to what their bankroll can support and are able to play and manage money with relative ease. Then there are players with horrible BRM, not necessarily bad players, just bad with money, with swings that go up and down wildly like a roller coaster.


Many a times, I have run up modest starting rolls of as little as 50USD to 300USD into 5000+USD only to move up in stakes, way outside the comfort level of my bankroll, only to find myself bust again. This blog is an effort to keep me on track with my play, and to possibly help keep my focus in this crazy poker game, with the occasional splash of others things that I like doing.

So sit back, relax, and check in occasionally in my quest from the Micro-Stakes back into Mid-Stakes( and possibly into nosebleeds, yay! ).