Wishing you a Happy Holidays

Due to family obligations and holiday parties I will not be playing this week unless I get the opportunity to play on Saturday. I did want to take a minute and wish you all a very Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Years. I also want to take this opportunity to thank you all for this wonderful gift you have given me this year. Of course I wish we were already up thousands of dollars but we have a long way to go and many hands to play before we sleep :) It is easy to get down when you have been out of work for so long and money is tight but knowing I have such good friends who believe in me makes it all worth while. I wish you all, and all of us as a group, a wonderful New Year filled with promise and happiness. Let's make this next decade one to remember, hopefully by starting it off with a win at the WSOP and riches for us all. Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Sometimes you wanna scream

OK so I go up to Palomar this morning because it is close by and I figure maybe I will play there more because that's where I was doing all of my winning. Starts off quiet... don't play any hands for most of the rebuy period... actually laid down a pair of 6's that would have won but with the board and the betting I would only have won if I went all in preflop... I would have spiked a 6 on the turn for the set. Finally the 2nd to last hand before rebuys ended, I look down at AQ and went all in with 2 other players both with small pairs. Unfortunately one spiked and 8 for a set. So I rebuy and have to start the rest of the tournament with just 1500 in my stack.... but I am very patient and every time I am about to go out I get a hand that doubles me up and I stay alive. We are finally down to about 12-13 players the blinds are 400-800 and I am in the small blind with J6 offsuit. Three players just limp and even though I was planning on folding I called the 400 (I had about 3500 in my stack) because I was getting 4:1 odds. Sure enough the flop is J/10/6 rainbow and I am first to act. I check hoping someone is aggressive. Sure enough the 9 seat goes all in... then the guy to my right goes all in over the top... I call and the last guy lays his hand down. The guy to my right has JQ suited and the other guy has AQ so I am in the lead. Turn is a ten which forfeits my second pair and gives him the better kicker. The river was a blank and instead of going into the final table with a nice big stack I am going home. Good news is I know I can beat that game so I think I will go back to playing there more often for a while.

Minor update

Sorry for not providing any updates the last few days, it has been a little busy and didn't have all that much to report. Played Palomar on Friday and went to Pechanga with Lisa on Saturday. The only thing to report is how long I lasted both days without hitting any hands. Both days I did not play any hands for the first couple of rounds. I managed to double up on the final hand of rebuys at Palomar but that was the only hand I got involved in. managed to hang around until the last two tables but not much else to report. Same thing at Pechanga. I went to Palomar again on Monday but got there too late and they were sold out. Went to Pechanga again Tuesday with my brother for 2 for 1 day but never got started. As a matter of fact we both went out within a minute or two of each other. The only hand of mention was my limping in with 3 other players with A/10. The flop came 10/3/4 so I bet 500 and got one call. The next card was a blank so I bet 1000 and got called the river turned an ace and he bet 1000. I was trying to decide what he had and decided to call...turns out he called to big bets with a straight draw (he had 2/5) and got it with the ace, costong me most of my stack...went out shortly there after. Will be out and about again tommorrow so we will see what happens. Hope everyone had a Happy Hannukah!

Let the sun shine!

Decided to stay home on Monday due to the severe weather although it might have been a mistake... I probably should have gone to somewhere like Viejas where they have a guarantee but probably had fewer players than normal... oh well will remember that for next time. I did go to Pechanga with my brother on Tuesday for 2 for 1 day. Again I started off very well... on one big hand the blinds were 50/100 and I had A spades and 10clubs. Several players limped in and the flop came 10/8/7 with two spades. I opened for 300, two guys to my left folded, the next guy raised to 700 and two more guys folded and it was back to me. I was trying to decide what he had and if I should come back over the top all in. I finally just decided to call and the next card came up a spade. I checked and surprisingly so did the other player (the spades must have scared him). The final card also came a spade giving me the nut flush. I checked and he bet out 600. I checked raised him to 1200 and after some thought he folded and showed a 9/J. He had flopped the straight but got scared by the flush enough for me to fill mine out. As it turns out I would have made more money if I had pushed, he would definitely have called but I certainly would have had to sweat out the spades before knocking him out. A while later I made a nice continuation bet even thought I did not hit my hand and won another decent pot. My downfall came later when I had KJ suited with 150/300 blinds and raised to 1200. Another player went all in for 2100 and I was all set to call him when another player called him first. I had to call getting 3 to 1 on my money. I missed the flop but the highest card on the board was a ten. The second guy bet another 1000 and I thought about laying it down but decided to see one more card. Again a blank and he bet 2000 forcing me to lay down my hand. Turns out he had A/10 and ended up winning the pot. It also cost me most of my stack. The last hand I played was funny because I had pocket 5's and went all in for 1000 (the big blind was 2000) two guys called and a third went all in and the other two folded. That was the best case scenario for me with 4 to 1 odds but only having to face down with one player. I said to him... win or lose thanks for the cover. Ends up he had pocket K's and I was done but it was a fun ending or as fun as possible when you lose. Handling some personal issues today but will be back in the saddle tomorrow or Friday.

A good friday

Had to handle some family issues the past few days but decided to run up to Palomar on Friday morning. It seems I have my best luck there on Mondays and Fridays. It took a while to get going...seems like I didn't play any hands during the rebuy period so I was already getting shortstacked when I got QQ in the last hand for rebuys. I pushed all in figuring I would get at least one call.... ends up I got two callers and the Q's held up so I tripled up and didn't have to rebuy. No real outstanding hands the rest of the way but won enough to make it down to a three way chop for $280. As usual the guy who didn't want to chop ended up going out in 7th and didn't make any money.... I love when that happens. Nice to get a win in before I send out the monthly update. Have a great weekend... more next week.

Forgot the good news

Although live play has been a little slow I have been doing well with freeroll satellites online. I have qualified for a $1000 freeroll on Fulltilt poker by being one of the top 250 players in a 10,000 player qualifier and I also qualified for a $2000 tournament on Poker Stars by finishing 8th out of 5000 players in a qualifying satellite. With some luck and hard work I might be able to put us back in the black without spending a dime :) Let you know how it comes out.

Well not the best start...

Back at the tables this week and not off to the best of starts thanks to those darn pocket queens. They cost me a big portion of my stacks both days and led to two early finishes. Both times I raised big preflop and was called down by multiple players. One time I lost to aces and another time it was pocket 5's that turned into trips. Oh well gonna keep this update short and see what the rest of the week brings. I will be sending out the latest spreadsheet update in a few days but suffice to say we are still in the red. Hopefully we can get that corrected before the end of the year. :)