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...

0 for 2 last night in FTP SNG's. Bankroll is at $12. I didn't feel like I played bad, just didn't get the cards I needed. I finished 3rd in a 6 player, just missing the money. I guess if it is last or the bubble doesn't matter since they both pay the same: zer0.

Bodog was a different story though. I cashed in two SNG's. In one tournament ($5buy in), they paid the top 3 spots and we were down to 4 players. There was a Villain that was absolutely crazy loose. A maniac in it's purest form. He was catching the cards and eliminated most of the table himself. He had about 11,500in chips. After him was player A with 850, then me with 1150, then Player B with 2500. I'm in the BB. Here's what happened.

Villain (11,500)-button
Player A (850) SB 200
Jamyhawk (1150) BB 400 -dealt AsQh -I figure a jam is what I am going to do here if anyone limps or min raises. If someone goes all in, I will have to really think about it depending on which player does it.
Player B (2500)

Player B raises to 2500 and is all in -Maybe I call.
Villain calls -Not surprised. He is the maniac so his range is really ATC. I could still call and be ahead of at least the Villain.
Player A calls -and is all in.
Jamyhawk folds- I couldn't find the fold button fast enough.

They flip their cards:
Player B Ac3c
Villain 9s2c <--are you kidding me?
Player A KhKs

Flop 5d2h9c Turn 2d River Js

Villain wins with a set of 2's.... I just went from bubble to 2nd place in one hand. Very nice.

The very next hand, I jam with K5off and Villain calls with K2off. 2 on the flop and I go home without a chance to really play heads up with the Villain.

At least it was another profitable night on Bodog. I also finished 4th in an 18 player ($10 buy in) so I was 2 for 2 on Bodog.

Just going to keep grinding it up at the low levels.

Building it back up

Warning. Super low stakes ahead. This is only for all you super-micro players. High rollers can skip this post.

Variance is a nasty ass bitch! That's why it is so nice when you slap her in the face. I mean really haul off and hit her good. I played my normal game last night and actually won! Yes. There's no whining post here about suck outs. My all in AK's held up against AJ and AQ. My Pocket-Rockets actually eliminated someone from a tournament. Oh, the beauty.

I played a $5 10 person SNG on Bodog and took 2nd. And then I played a 6 person SNG on Fulltiltpoker and finished 1st.

Sharkscope says I'm "HOT". That's because I have cashed in 3 straight SNG's. With an average profit of $3.55, I only need to cash in 51 more $2 SNG's to get back to even. I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I might have to write a book "How to get Sharkscope to label you HOT". Oh, the money is going to be pouring in now.

OK, OK. I jest. I guess this is what I have to do now though. Slowly build up a bankroll at the $2 level. Let's set a goal. What about $50? I have $11 now. I have the ability to play 4 more $2 tournaments. But I knocked Variance off of me and I am on top of her now. So, I build up to $50 and then I can play 8 $5 SNG's. We will set a new goal once I get there.

I hope you are moving in a positive direction as well. Stay patient...

Grinding it up at Bodog

More grinding at the low levels for me with Bodog. I had about $25 in the account to start the evening so decided to play $10 max and see what we can do. I couldn't believe the donkness.

I called a 4x preflop raise with 88, hit my set on the flop that 3 of us saw. 1st out bets into me 1/2 the pot, I call and other player calls. Next card is an Ace. 1st player bets 1/4 of the pot. Again I call and the other player calls. Next card is a nothing, and first player bets out 1/6th of the pot. I think for awhile (for show- no straight or flush possibilities) and then go all in for a little more than twice the size of the pot (overbet). Player behind me thinks briefly and calls, 1st player folds. He shows a pair of Aces with his STRONG 6 kicker and I flip over my set of snowmen and double up my stack.

A few hands later, I get A10, raise preflop and get two callers. Flop comes QJ7. 1st player checks, I check and it checks around. Next card is a K filling in my straight with no flush available yet. 1st player raises, I reraise all in and get all his chips when he shows his slow played set of Queens.

I continued to run the table as I would control the pot sizes when I didn't have the nuts, and maximized my winnings when I did. And it helped that at the .05/.10 level, Acerag was considered the nuts by my opponents. I took plenty of hands with AK and/or two pair when an Ace was on the board.

My point is if you play patient, wait for the right hands and bet them hard, you can make money at these levels. I think the biggest thing that kept me winning was that I tried to keep small pots when I was playing TPWeak Kicker or just a pair and a flush or straight filled in. Not losing all your chips to the calling station who hits his 1 outer on the river is key. You don't go all in with AK and A high flop. But you do push and watch what your opponent does.

Fortunately for me, I left the table with my 3 1/2 buy in profit. Unfortunately, this all started late (son's Christmas Recital was last night), so I didn't get to play in $mokkee's BODONKEY tourney. Sorry I missed it last night -sounds like it would have been fun, especially with Buddydank on. The only reason I got on Bodog was to play in $mokkee's tourney and I haven't made one yet. Oh well, keep trying.

Stay patient...

Chip and a chair

Down to my last $5.77 on bodog, I decided to just tighten up and play PPO Poker (Premiums and Position Only). Friday night, I opened up a table and quickly ran that $5.77 down to $1.93. How fun. But, as expected, I finally started getting some cards and at the $10 max buy in tables that means guaranteed double ups. The call all-ins on draws and any pair mentality of my opponents, helped me build my balance up to just over $23 in less than 1 hour.

The most interesting thing I took out of this was: should I be playing PPO Poker more often? At least in ring games. Normally, I prefer more of a "Hit and Run" style, meaning I will Hit the table with LAG play until someone challenges me, then run over to playing Rock Tight. After hitting a few big hands with the Rock Tight, then Run back over to LAG play. And if I ever see all of the players turn over in a short period of time, RUN back over to the style of play. This works at the .25/.50 and the .50/1 tables on FTP.

PPO Poker is probably more for the micro limits anyway(.5/.10 was the $10 max). I will just keep grinding it out. Then once the BBT2 is over, I can start playing in $mokee's Bodonkey tourney. I have found the competition to be weaker on Bodog so far. I say that as I ran my first $100 there down to $5 in grand style. But we all know you have to be able to play through some bad nights (notice I said bad nights, not bad beats - bad nights allows for stupid play on my part).

Don't forget: Only 4 spots left in the TOC. If you want a shot at a freeroll for an $18K prize, come out an play on FTP.

Tournament: Mondays at the Hoy
When: Every Monday. 10pm ET
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $24+2
Password: hammer

Tournament: The Mookie
When: Every Wednesday. 10pm ET
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

Tournament: Riverchasers Online Poker Tour
When: Every Thursday. 21:00 ET
Game: NLHE DeepstackBuyin: $10+1
Password: Riverchasers

Tournament: Blogger Big Game
When: Sunday, December 16th, 21:30 ET
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $69+6 or Tier II token
Password: donkey

Stay patient...

Should have folded KK (Part VI)

Actually I did. Wouldn't you?





Grinding it out on Bodog. 50% or more players seeing the flop is not uncommon. I have run a few bad sessions (QQ into AA, set into straight, etc.)