What happens after you pwn someone twice in a row.....

That's right! They decline your request for a third match..... How FUN!

Time after Time

Well, I don't know who really cares, but work has been kicking my ass lately. I am gearing up to open a third sales branch for my company. What does that mean? It means I am doing everything now by the book, trying to prepare to lead by example. I'm sure my employees will do things like I did, and I don't mind. But I want to show that doing it right can be done. But it consumes most of my time. Especially my posting time.

I read as many blogs as I can but rarely post on them. And it appears I haven't been posting much on mine. It just takes me a long time to put my thoughts into words sometimes.

Here are some quick thoughts I have had recently:

Chad is my HERO! He says whatever he wants in the chat while playing cards. As far as I'm concerned, that is another tool to use at the tables. I don't personally do it much, but I love that people can do it. What is total BULLSHIT is that his chat privileges were permanently blocked. Really? Fulltiltpoker can't do any better than that? You can put notes on people, block observers chat, block all chat, but you can't block 1 person's chat? That is really stupid if you ask me. Oh wait, here's another one: IGNORE IT! Oh wait, someone is soooooo offended that they complain about his "profanity free" insults (the software stops you from putting in words like SHIT). I've had people say all kinds of junk in that tiny, little box in the very bottom of my screen. Guess what? I IGNORE IT. Or type back if I choose. Either way, I think blocking chat privileges is wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. That's my 2cents.

There are some truly generous people in this world. I mentioned (well.... maybe pushed a bit) a charity tournament I was having and these three people who have never met me, and never spoken to me, and don't know where I live, etc., etc., donated HUGE prizes. I mean: really! I could've taken all that stuff for me and said: "look what I conned out of the internet dummies". Thankfully they didn't and I used those prizes (and a few others) to raise $3018 to give to colon cancer patients. I am so impressed and deeply grateful. I hope I can pay it forward the way they have.

Now to talk about BBT3. I pushed hard during BBT2, playing in most of the tournaments (22/27) and finished in 7th place. But it took it's toll on me. Almost completely burning me out of online poker. I like playing, and I like playing several times a week, but pushing to get into a tournament 3 times a week at a specific time was trying on my work and home schedule. Now BBT3 will be 57 events with Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday games. I just can't hang that many days a week in a row. But the prize pool is attractive. And I like the way bloggers play, it suits my style well. . . MiamiDon did a good write up on the pros and cons of playing. I will definitely play in a few, just don't know how many. Remember that it is open to readers too. If you don't have a blog, come play. Click on one of the links above or look to the right for the events. I may even see you there.

I'll be playing live this Saturday. $50 buy in. Last month I went out just before the bubble, so hopefully I can improve this time.
Remember to stay patient and if you see me playing somewhere, remind me. . .

Results of the Figg Tree Foundation Charity Tournament

First of all: thank you to everyone who played. Your generosity was greatly appreciated!

We ended up having 71 players playing in the tournament (there were a few more that had pre-paid but did not show). We did 9 tables of 8. This was my first tournament running more than 4 tables, and I'm happy to say: everyone was pleased with how it ran.

With 71 playing, we had enough prizes to give to the top 29. THANK YOU to everyone that donated prizes. We paid out the top 40% of the players seated! What a great response we got.


The 1st place winner of an $800 Visa Check Card was Steven Turnage. He is a cousin of the Figg Tree Foundation Founders and drove in from Kansas City specifically to play in this tournament. He was so excited after winning. And rightfully so since he beat out 70 others to finish in 1st place. He was shortstacked going into the final 3 but managed to take it all down and finish 1st. Congratulations Steven!



The 2nd place winner of a 26" HDTV was Gary Batteiger(on the left with Me on the right). I helped him carry it to his car where he informed me that he has never played in a big tournament like this and has really only played Texas Hold'em a couple of times before. He was only playing since the money went to a good cause and didn't expect to do so well. Congratulations Gary!


Congratulations to all the rest of the players. I think everyone was very pleased with the prizes they received. And we had some really good ones for everyone at the final table.


With so many fantastic prizes donated, we were able to reward a lot of people. And then we saw a lot of prize swapping and selling. Some people were selling their prizes and then donated the cash back to the Figg Tree. Everyone was so generous all evening. One person even whipped out a $100 bill at the end of the evening and donated it for the charity. What a great win for the charity! After all the costs of running the tournament, we raised right at $3,000 for colon cancer patients. What a SUCCESS!


Thank you to the players and thank you to the prize donors. What a great response we had! We are already looking forward to the next one. We hope you can be there.


Here are some more pictures:

Mike takes 3rd place and gets the "guys night out" package.


Bryan Figg wins the $100 FTP Cash


The final table. Thank you to Sean Christy (holding the card) who dealt the final table for us.




Prize table. This was only a portion of the prizes we gave away...

So for my charity tournament, I had a lot of people trying to input how things should be run. I really wrestled with it, as I didn't want it like a pushfest, but I can't have it lasting 7-8 hours. I decided to go with a 25 minute blind time, since 15 or 20 minutes seemed too fast and 30 minutes was just a bit too long for a charity type tournament. Here's what I decided to use as blinds:

What do you think? Fair enough? We have between 80-100 expected to be playing...

I decided to split the prizes as far down the places as possible. So at first, I thought I could package stuff together and say you win a bunch of stuff but only pay the top 10-15. But then I thought that a lot of places paid would encourage peeps to play again next year. I mean, if 80 poeple play and we give prizes to 25 of them: that's over 30% of the people that walk with a prize. I think that's pretty good.

Here's an idea (not finalized) of what the prizes will be:

1st
$800 Visa Check Card
2nd
26 inch HDTV
3rd
Poker Table
4th
Guys Night Package
5th
$100 FTP Cash
6th
Jacket, 4 Beer Glasses, UDB
7th
IPOD Shuffle, 4 beer glasses
8th
Mineos Gift Cert
9th
2 Harrington Books
10th
500 poker chips
11th
Multiple Resteraunts GC
12th
hat and UDB
13th
hat and UDB
14th
hat and UDB
15th
hat and UDB
16th
t-shirt and UDB
17th
t-shirt and UDB
18th
t-shirt and UDB
19th
t-shirt and UDB
20th
Mike Matheny Auto Framed
21st
UDB
22nd
UDB
23rd
WPT cards
24th
4 beer glasses
25th
4 beer glasses
26th
4 beer glasses
27th
4 beer glasses

I just hope everyone feels like they had fun and got something. Of course, the open bar included in the buy in helps.

If you have any input, that would be appreciated....

Stay patient...

"But ours go to 11...." Nigel Tufnel 1984

No. I didn't finish in the money. I actually bubbled the bubble. I was close enough to probably fold to the money but chose to go for a steal that backfired. On the button with 6 players at my table, it folds around to me. I have $5800 with a SB of $600 and BB of $1200 and around $2400 total in the pot with antes. SB player has $3000 stack and BB has $8000. I decided to shove hoping that no premium hands are behind me. My cards were really irrelevant (Kh8h). We were playing hand for hand, so I figured only a big pocket pair is calling or maybe AK.

Anyway, BB calls with AQ and Ace high wins. I really should have stayed tighter for a couple more spots.

My main points when playing the $3 KO's. (built from tips from Matt and Emptyman).
1)Early on: loosen up my play. Starting stack is $3000. I can see a few more pots when I know that $2000 is an easy amount to come back with. By loosen up though: I only mean play a few more hands WHEN IN POSITION. And only during the first 3 or so blinds. I still don't want to play 79sooted from UTG. But on the button with a limped pot: yes. If a 6,8, 10 spikes the flop or my flush hits, I can take down a nice pot. Raising from the cutoff or Button with 77 or even KJ is OK. But stay attentive after the flop. Fire a bullet and get re-raised, you need to let the hand go.

2)Middle of the tournament play tight, solid poker from position. The nice thing about this level that I have found is that you can get paid off on monster hands. You might lose once in a while to someone chasing a draw, but if you leave yourself some chips, you can build them right up again.

3)Tighten up around the bubble. Now this is contrary to my normal style, hence why I have such a problem remembering to do this. But, people are still thinking "It was only $3" this late in the tourney. I've seen plenty of junk thrown all in with only 2 or 3 spots to the money (Like my K8 soooooted). Hopefully you have enough chips to make it through a dead card run, but no use trying to bully everyone with an all in here: you will get called, so you better have some bling. But seriously, the play seems to tighten up after the bubble pops. I think everyone starts eyeing that first place prize once they hit the final table. Then you can start stealing some blinds again.

4)Put the pressure on at the final table. Chances are, there are at least 1/3 of the players there that are terrible. Push on them, raise them up on their draws, watch them call you off with top pair weak kicker and take it down.

Hope you do well. To really increase your abilities, go check out Matt and Emptyman. It will pay off.

2 more days until the Figg Tree Poker Tournament to raise money for colon cancer patients. If you are near Saint Louis, please come play.

Is anyone else watching Big Brother??? What a twist this season to have couples. People have another person that they can bitch to, so now there's more outward fighting and backstabbing. It used to be that everyone had to play nice in front of everyone, but not this time... And how stupid is Jen for telling Parker her secret so early. Buh-Bye, Jen.

Stay patient...

I'm Back in Black

I hit the sack...Ive been too long... Im glad to be back... AC/DC 1980

I've cashed in 2 out of the last 3 90 player KO's I've played(a 1st and a 5th). That will boost my ROI real quick at the $3 levels. My bankroll now is just shy of $100. Not too bad, having been at just $2 a few weeks ago. I was actually in the low $100's a week ago, but dropped a buyin playing cash at the 25NL level and couldn't cash in a $10 MTT, so here we are.

If you will notice, I have been playing very sparingly. Only 8 SNG's in the last 19 days. Pathetic, I know. But I am happy to have cashed in 6 of those 8. I have been following a much tighter game plan: trying to play mostly from position only regardless of my cards. And when down to the bubble, play opposite the table. What's that? Sound unusual for me? Yes, it is. I usually try to bully at the bubble and "usually" end up getting caught at some point. What I found though, is most times the bubble at the $3 buy in level is not so tight. So if I play tight and wait for the right cards, then I make it to the money. The play really seems to tighten up in the final 4 or 5. Then players are looking at a major change in payouts if you can advance to top 2. This is a better time to get aggressive and start buying blinds. Again, be observant of your opponents play.

Thanks again to everyone who donated to my charity tournament. Evenings this week will be spent preparing chip stacks, blind structures, prizes, etc. You can still show up to play if you want. We are hoping for just over 100 players.

Stay patient...

Everywhere is.... freaks and hairies...tell me where is sanity

"I'd love to change the world

But I don't know what to do

So I'll leave it up to you" ..... Ten Years After

If you can play with patience and wait for the hands, BODOG is the nutzzzz. Now, granted: I play at the micro stakes .05/.10. But I have to tell you: pay attention! You can see plenty of draw and straight chasing, calling with 2nd or 3rd pairs, and just plain 'ol donkey play. And make sure to compliment the donkey play. They love it and will pay you back handsomely. Here is a screen shot of a $10 max buy in table I played for a couple of hours tonight.

Up 5+Buyins at any level is fun!

I'm on work tilt right now, so I haven't posted much. With mortgage rates low, I am swamped (I am a Loan Officer, if you don't know). Also, I am opening the 3rd sales office of our company sometime in March. I'm not dealing with much of the operations (office space, phones, servers, etc.), but I am working on finding people and getting my personal shit in order to manage a bunch of other sales people. Can't very much be lazy, and expect the people under me to work hard... So, I don't have much time to post.

Any free time I have had lately, I've spent trying to recruit players and find donations for my upcoming charity tournament. There is still time to donate if you would like. We have gotten Fulltiltpoker funds, an HDTV, A poker table, Ultimate Dealer Buttons, Books, playing cards, poker chips, and more... Any small donation will help. If you donate anything at all, you will be listed on this website, on the figgtreepoker website and on the actual flyers we will hand out at the tournament. Many players are excited about the FTP funds. If you could donate even $5, they will go to a great cause. You can donate the funds to me now or I will get you the winners name and you can donate directly to them. We are expecting around 100 players; unfortunately I won't be one of them, as I will be focusing on running the tournament.

Check out these prizes that YOU COULD DO too:

All proceeds from this tournament go directly to the figgtree foundation. Check them out here.

Don't Forget about Riverchasers tonight. 8pm. FTP. Password: riverchasers

Stay patient...

Guest post by "theCloserX5"

Monday night: MATH
57 minutes into the tournament. Started with 25 players, NL, deep stack, 6 handed.
I am in the BB with 7c and 8h
Cubalinks is first to act and he calls BB
Donkette is next and she calls BB
Everybody else folds even SB so I check
Flops Ks 9h and 5h
Check, Check, Check
Turns 6c
I check
Cubalinks bets pot of 180
Donkette calls
I raise x-tra 300 up to 480
Cubalinks reraises x-tra 520 up to 1000
Donkette folds
I rereraise x-tra 1470 up to 2470 to go all in
Cubalinks calls
He turns over Kh 9s for top 2 pair
Rivers 9 clubs
I take 20th place.

OK, what the EF? Do I need to say "I Can't" everytime to make something happen????

Earlier today, I said: "I can't seem to do well in the 90 player KO's"...

So, I thought I would try one more. And then this happened:

Bankroll is moving upwards... Yeah!

Pretty women out walking with Gorillas down my street

....because if my eyes don't deceive me there's something going wrong around here:

I got an instant message from a friend on Windows Live Messenger. It read like this: "Hey, is this picture really you? imageXX.JPG-www.photobucket.com" . I of course clicked it (LIKE AN IDIOT) and it ran a worm virus on my PC. What I then found out is "If you run the "imageXX.JPG-www.photobucket.com" file, the MSN Worm will be installed on your computer, and then separate to your MSN contacts and so on..." (from this website)

Luckily, there is no major damage. Unfortunately, the IT department in my company has required everyone to uninstall Windows and MSN messenger "until further notice". That didn't make me too popular -since the message sent by the IT Dept identified ME as the initial one to spread the virus. Which is true, but.... well, you know the shit I'm getting.

So my online bankroll is up to around $38. Quite a jump from being at $2 recently. I did violate one of my rules and play a $5 tournament, but it paid off as I expected it would. See below:

I have really struggled on the 90 player knockout SNG's. I can get through about half the field easily, most times even down to 3 tables, but then miss the money every time (I think I finished in the money once out of about 20 times played). I must be playing too loose in the middle.

You can also see that I have only played 4 tournaments in the last 7 days. Work and life are keeping me pretty busy.

I wanted to bring up one more time the comment I made about the horrible plays at the micro limits. Alan (and emptyman agreed) that they "will never support the theory of donkeys calling off their stacks as a huge dog being the reason that people can't beat those levels." I do agree with that. I guess I figured there would be more variance due to wider ranges of cards played against you. If you are disciplined and focused , then you should be able to win through those levels. I probably end up tilting so much, that I don't realize it when I had a bad beat push me way off my game.

Thanks for the comments.

15 days left until our BIG CHARITY TOURNAMENT. . .

Stay patient...