My First Big Event?

Well I have made the decision to take a few shots at doing some major tournaments. Here is what I am currently considering . . .

Borgata Deep Stack $500K Guarantee 8/2 - 8/5

This one kind of snuck up on me. I would like to try to satellite into this one since the buy-in is pretty reasonable ($1,500+150) and first prize last time (March '09) was about $320K. Now most of the events I am going to discuss offer multiple sub-tourneys with much lower buy-ins. This one does not, but offers satellites of $165+35 (1 out of 10 get a buy-in) or $330+50 (1 out of 5 get a buy-in). I happen to be going down to AC the weekend before this thing kicks off, so if I do well (real well) at the Showboat, I might take a shot at a $330+50 satellite.

World Poker Tour: Borgata Poker Open 9/9-9/24

World Poker Tour, yes sir. Details have yet to be released on this one, but you can look at the results from the last one here. The last one had 23 events with No Limit Hold Em, Omaha, and even some Head's Up tourneys. Buy-ins range from $350+50 to $3000+200 for the championship event. I can almost promise I will play one event in this one. Just waiting to get the dates and list of events.

World Series of Poker Circuit Event @ Harrah's AC 12/4-12/20

Another event with no details released yet. Last year's event had 9 events with the main event costing $5,000 and many options for satellites. Last year 1st place was over $380K.

My level of activity really hinges on how well my next two or three AC trips go. My next trip is scheduled for 7/30, so stay tuned.

Phil Ivey makes the November 9!!

I just felt the need to say something about this, and I am not going to do too much in terms of spoilers for those of you who like to wait for the ESPN coverage of the WSOP.

Phil Ivey currently stands in the top nine of the main event of the WSOP. The coveted final table will resume play, with each player being awarded 9th place money (~$1.7Million) for now, and the rest of the prize money being placed in a conservative interest bearing account until November. I just think it is absolutely remarkable for Phil Ivey to accomplish this. There were 6,494 entrants in this years tournament, and in this 'amateur age' of poker, this is an incredible feat for one of the class acts and most talented poker players in the world. Professional players often joke about the WSOP and its bloated importance in the world of poker, but I don't think anyone would deny what Ivey has the potential to accomplish. For the first time in a few years, I am really captivated by the WSOP and I am rooting for Ivey to take this one down. The next few months will be tough to get through as a fan of Phil. A few of the pros i heard interviewed (can't remember who at this point) had some nice things to say to the effect of "We all know how good Phil is, and it is time for the rest of the world to know."

And in the 'no class' category I need to mention Jeff Shulman. Shulman has proclaimed that if he wins the main event (he is also in the November 9) he will renounce the WSOP and throw away his bracelet. Apparently this comes down to his perception of how players are treated by Harrah's Corp (the host of the WSOP) and some business deals involving the handling of the exclusive reporting rights of the WSOP. Jeff is the Editor (and son of the owners) of Card Player Magazine. While Jeff may have a point in his problem with Harrah's, I think he is chosing the wrong way of publicizing it. Trashing a tournament that put poker in popular culture and helped bring in the masses (and revenue for his magazine) is bad form in my opinion. It will be interesting to see how this storyline plays out.

Chris Ferguson Challenge update and World Record Tournament

I just wanted to keep you all updated . . . I am currently at $46. I haven't had any good stories, but that's where I am at. Patience is wearing thin, but I am trying to keep my eye on the prize. Stay tuned.

Also . . . Full Tilt Poker turned 5 years old this year. To celebrate they are having a $5 buy-in $500K guarantee tournament. Such a low buy-in with such a big prize pool is their attempt at breaking the record for the largest online tournament (with the Guinness people observing). I will be playing this event this Sunday at 3. I encourage everyone to give it a shot. First prize will be at least $200K (my guess) but likely much higher. When is the next time you will have the opportunity to play for such a big prize pool? If you are not a member of Full Tilt, please use my link above, or use my code POCKETACES when you sign up. Thanks and hope to see you at the final table!

Adventures in AC

I went to Atlantic City this week for a buddy's bachelor party. The bachelor party was scheduled for Friday which I had off of work. So I decided late Wednesday that I would head down a bit early on Thursday and get some poker in before I met up with a few friends who were coming down Thursday night. Now I had told myself that I was just going to play for a few hours at the Trop while I waited for them to meet me at Caesar's where we were staying. I completely forgot that traveling on the Thursday leading up to July 4th might be a difficult thing. Traffic.

I got to the Trop later than I wanted, but I still had a few hours until my friends came. I sat down at my standard 1-2NL table and bought in for my standard $200. I sat around for awhile, spent some time surveying the table, no big hands, but still managed to be up about $65 after an hour or so. The table was made up of several people around my age and younger, a few older gentlemen, and a local or two. Pretty standard table at the Trop, and if you ask me, I always get the best mix of good people at the Trop. So I get involved in a hand, make a bad play, and I am suddenly down about $35. I stand up and take a cigarette break and immediately text my friends giving them a status update and looking for one in return. I inform them I am getting antsy, not really winning anything and I am leaving soon.

Then things got interesting.

Let me step back a bit. About a half hour before I stood up from the table, an older (early 50's) gentleman sat down two seats to my left with $200. From this point on we will call him "comb-over". My whole thing with poker is that I try to spend my first 30 minutes at a table studying everyone sitting down with me. I immediately try to categorize their style of play, and then from that point forward I just spend time tweeking my initial assessment. I find that if I make a definitive assessment early, it is easier to remember as I sit there. When a new person sits down, I can usually tell what I am dealing with within 45 seconds. Now that may seem crazy to people who don't play a lot of B&M poker, but just by watching someone sit down, a lot can be learned. Did he stop at the cashier? Did he check in properly? Does he spill his chips taking them out of the rack? What does he do with his hands? Does he watch other people or is he staring at the cards the whole time? Does he have a players card? Does he have an upgraded players card? Is he talkative? Is he nervous? Etc. None of these individual questions can tell you anything, but piecing them together is my personal favorite part of casino poker. All my life I have liked to people watch, and therefore I feel confident in my judgement skills.

So I immediately identify comb-over as a very squirelly, nervous, and tentative player. Extremely tight with his chips and looking forward to mucking his cards every hand.

I was completely wrong.

So now we are up to right before my cigarette break. I get involved in a hand that I raise out initially with comb-over as my only caller. I have second pair with a flush draw. Comb over is smooth calling each of my increasingly larger bets. Par for the course I figure, and when the third spade comes out on the river (I had diamonds) I try to represent the flush and bet big. Comb over smooth calls and shows top pair with garbage kicker. I am flabbergasted, hence the cigarette break. $100 gone in one hand. As I am walking away, I notice him whisper to the guy next to him, "He bet out with second pair?!" He did not notice my flush draw whatsoever. That being said, I am dissappointed with my play since he was smooth calling me, but it was his mannerisms that made me try it.

So I get back from my cigarette break and sit back down. I look at my cards and I have 9's. Love my nines. A few people limp in and it gets around to me and I raise to $15. Everyone folds. Except comb-over. The flop comes out J-9-2 rainbow. Immediately recalling my history with combover, I bet out $35. A pretty heavy bet for the situation that even got a few surprised tones from the other players. Comb-over stares me down for a few seconds and moves all in for another $100. I barely have him covered, I insta-call and immediately flip over my set. Comb-over turns over J-9 and two bricks come on the turn and river. Victory.

It gets better.

Two hands later I am in the big blind. I get dealt 4-6 diamonds. Six people or so limp in, I check my option, and the flop comes out 3-5-7, two diamonds. Sitting on the nuts with the potential for a straight flush I check to my left, and guess who leads out . . . Mr. Comb-over. $20 . . . everyone folds to me so quickly that when I slowly put a pile of chips in my hand and act like I am considering calling, I get a few curious looks from the table. I act as if I hesitantly call and toss my chips in. Comb-over is staring me down the whole time. Turn comes Q (no diamond). This time comb-over checks to me . . . hmmmm, interesting. I bet $35, Comb-Over does THE EXACT SAME STARE DOWN and pushes all his chips in, I insta call and turn over my straight. Comb-over turns over Q-7, and we both watch anxiously as the river comes . . . A of Clubs. I win again.

At this point comb-over is visibly shaken and is reaching in his pocket for more money. Another $200 is placed on the felt and the dealer counts out reds for him. As this is happening, the kid to my left looks at me and says, "Do you two have some sort of history?!" I of course shake my head no.

Two hands later. I flop top pair surrounded by rags. I lead out with a $20 bet and I have one caller . . . comb-over. He smooth calls again. Sheesh. The turn comes Queen, I bet $25 he smooth calls. There is nothing but a king and a queen on the board. No flush draw, no straight draw. The river comes 8 diamonds (putting three diamonds on the board). I check to comb-over and he pushes his whole stack in . . . $85. Oh boy.

So at this point I have to ask myself, does this guy seriously have the balls to push against me after felting him TWICE in the past ten minutes? His smooth calling would indicate he was searching for something, but the second diamond came on the turn, so this whole scenario stinks. I think about it for awhile, actually saying to myself out loud, "this guy has balls." If I make a call and he has me beat, I am giving him back half the money I took from him. But I am confident he is on a weak hand and I call. He turns over second pair to my top pair. I win again.

It was a great session and set the stage for a good weekend. This literally funded my whole AC bachelor party experience which included poker tournaments, drinks, dinner, lodging, etc. Very very good.

Next AC trip is planned for late July.

Chris Ferguson Challenge Update: The Good, The Bad, and the Royal Flush

Well I have officially taken a downturn on my quest. I had written that I have been having a tough time, and that has continued. I am working on my patience and discipline, because I am playing too many hands, bluffing too often, and taking too many chances. But that is an easy adjustment. The real news is that last night I hit my second ever royal flush. In my lifetime I have played literally MILLIONS of hands of poker, and as of two years ago I had never even SEEN a royal flush in online or B&M play. I saw my first one online, and came in late one week to my weekly game right after my friend Keith had got one. But last night I got my second career royal flush. Enjoy.

Interesting Poker Article from Wall Street Journal

I doubled my buy in money last night in a quick 1 hour session. I am sitting on about $23. $50 seems like light years away.

Anyway. I wanted to post this article from the Wall Street Journal in regards to the recent poker asset freezing. Interesting article which discusses why the freezing of assets pissed off the EU, and how the action by the federal prosecuter could actually be GOOD news for U.S. online poker players. Check it out . . . it is rare that online poker is discussed in a WSJ article.

Online-Poker Bust Raises Legal Stakes

Chris Ferguson Challenge Update: Losing My Stack

Well I have had a difficult run lately. As it stands right now, I have gone from a high of about $27, down to about $20. What I have discovered is that the ratio of tight play to loose play at such a low limit (still playing $.02/$.05) is about 50-50. Being that I am constantly starting my play short stacked I am having some difficulty. The other day I actually won this crazy hand (pictured), taking the side pot for about $7, I eventually lost it all though. The quest continues.

In order from left to right: King High Flush, 8 High Flush (me), Trip Aces. Trip Tens. Three pots, I won the first of two side pots for about $7.

Chris Ferguson Challenge Update: Day 14

Yup its been two weeks.

So I took a few days off since I got a new computer. Since I had an old school mac (not able to handle Full Tilt) as my primary computer, I had been playing poker on an old school Dell. But I picked up a long awaited newer Mac (a used PowerMac G5 off eBay), and now we are back up and running. The Mac gives me the ability to do some screen shots of my actual action, so I will be adding that to the mix (such as the picture of me above betting a heavy 20 cents).

So as we speak I am back to playing in the Chris Ferguson Challenge, and I am sitting at a table right now down 47 cents. I will be getting back to regular updates after my nightly sessions, and I am hoping to play a few $1 multitables this Friday. So no worries . . . I'm back, and ready to get back to work.

Tough News for Online Poker

An interesting and unfortunate development for online poker players in the US.

Government freezes over $30 million in online poker winnings

This is a huge statement to poker players, and frankly I am very surprised at this news. It seems strange to me that this is the stance our country has taken. In my opinion I am still betting on regulation and taxation of online poker similar to what the UK does. Come on Obama your option . . . check or bet.

For updates on what will become a very interesting situation, I highly recommend you check out and maybe even donate to the Poker Players Alliance.

Feel free to comment on this one, I am curious what thoughts are out there on this subject.

Weekend Summary: Chris Ferguson Challenge

So I had a pretty busy weekend: A Family Yard Sale, a Taekwondo test, and a Phish concert. It was an awesome weekend, and to top it off I had Monday off. I had intended to get in a few hours of poker on my day off, but I only managed about an hour and a half. In three sessions over the weekend (a total of 3 hours and twenty minutes) I went from $17.77 to $27.30.

I am playing micro-stakes poker still. I am getting a little bored, but I can definitely appreciate the value of bankroll management. I have almost doubled my original bankroll in less than a week. When I hit $50 the official rules kick in. If you have been following, I am allowed to buy into any game for $2.50 . . . $50 bankroll is the end of this exception, which basically means I will not be doubling my bankroll at the same rate.

Chris Ferguson Challenge: Session Two

Starting stack $16.12.

So I started by sitting down to a $1.25 SNG Two Table. Finished 15th out of 18. Sweet, now I have an extra $1.25 just to get back to my starting money.

Back to my 2 cent/5 cent NL cash game. Here are the highlights . . .

• I go all in AA vs. KK, trip my aces on the flop of AQJ . . . ruht roh. A King or Ten felts me, but it was not to be, turn 4, river 9. I go from $2.08 to $3.95.
• After observing a hyper aggressive player at the table continuously go all in with any decent hand, I call his $1.02 all-in with my pocket nines . . . he turns over K2 off suit. No King comes, I go from $4.32 to $5.30.
• After losing some money (90 cents) folding my top pair Aces with a 9 kicker to a $5 all in, my stack dwindled down to $4.15 . . . I am pleased with my 40 cent profit and figure I will play my blinds plus one more rotation . . . I get dealt Q7 diamonds on the big blind and get to check my option to see a flop. I hit my flush on the river and bet out 60 cents, I get two callers and take down the pot. Session over. $5.42 in my stack. More than double what I sat down with.
  

Final tally for the evening, and new bank roll total . . . $17.77. I am up $2.74 in 3 hours of playing. About 90 cents an hour.

All I have to say about all of this is thank god I have my regular Thursday night game tomorrow night, this penny poker is exhausting.

Chris Ferguson Challenge: First Session

So just a quick correction to my last post, my opening bank roll was actually $15.03.

So I started by playing 1 cent/2cent NL ring games . . . terrible poker.  People don't fold to five cent raises.  So I sat down with $2, and quickly got down to $1.75.  I decided it would be better to play short stacked at a higher table.  

So I ventured over to a 2cent/5cent NL table.  Did a bit better here.  The people surprisingly played reasonable poker, and after an hour I worked my stack from $2.50 to $3.76.  Yes, you read that right, in one hour I made $1.26.  

This is going to take awhile.

My early reflections are this . . . this is a TREMENDOUS task, and the bulk of the work is done early on.  When I was tinkering with the percentages during my play last night, I realized that I will not graduate to a higher table until I have about $200 dollars in my bank roll.  That is light years away!  I really didn't realize what I was getting myself into, but I am really starting to see the importance of it.  According to these principles, I should not sit down at a $1/$2 NL table at a casino with $200 (my standard procedure) unless I have about $10,000 in my poker bank roll (thats laughable).  This really put things in perspective for me.  Playing session number two comes tonight . . . this is way more interesting than I thought it would be, and I will have to learn to harness my chi.  Always end with a rhyming couplet.

Day One ending bank roll:  $16.12 . . . ugh.

Cash Games vs. Tournaments: The Chris Ferguson Challenge

Alright enough of this nonsense with Drew Barrymore . . . lets talk poker.

One of my biggest struggles as a semi-serious player is bank roll management. I think most players of ANY level of poker would agree with this. Now just to clarify, this does not necessarily mean I am going out and blowing large amounts of money on poker. In terms of casino play, I am in the black for 2009. Online play I am a career 'in the red' player, but I generally play MUCH lower stakes online with more high risk tournaments. If you add into this the fact that I really do not differentiate between my 'poker' money and my 'regular' money it complicates things further. Whenever I have a profit, I generally put it immediately towards bills or some unforeseen expense (car maintenance, bachelor parties in Vegas, outrageous bar tabs, etc.)

On top of all of this, I struggle with the cash game vs. the lure of the tournament. When I first started playing poker in the casino, I was much more comfortable with the tournament structure. In a tournament, unless things go wrong quickly, you can generally sit at a table for 2-5 hours knowing that the worst case scenario is that you are not going to finish in the money and you will lose your buy-in. In a cash game, you can lose a TON of money very quickly. During my recent Vegas trip, I lost $600 in about two hours. Not good. However, learning to manage your chips at the cash game actually is a much better investment than a tournament in my opinion. By this I mean, if you are willing to sit at the table for 8 or 9 hours, you can double or triple your original buy in if you are disciplined and patient. If you make it that long, generally there are a few people sitting with you who are doing just as well. So in a table of 10, it is not rare for 30-40% of the people at the table to be making a large profit. In most multi-table tournaments, 10% of the players will get paid, although at a much larger profit.

Hence the lure of the tournament.

Now since I won a tournament within my first year of casino playing, it was hard for me to give up on the quest. Against my better judgment I kept plugging away at these long shot tournaments. I also had an unbelievable streak of finishing on the bubble . . . but more on that in a later entry.

So here is my challenge to myself that you all get to watch.

A couple of years ago I read about the Chris Ferguson challenge. Since this blog is aimed at fairly serious poker players, I am not going to bore you with the whole story of said challenge (if you are not aware of it check it out here). But I am going to make an attempt at the primary goal with a few modifications.

• I am starting with about $15
• My goal is $10,000
• I will not buy into MTT's with more than 2% of my bankroll (this is going to be very tough)
• I will not buy into Single Table SNG with more than 5% of my bankroll
  
• If I am sitting at a table and my stack exceeds 10% of my bankroll, I will leave the table.

Just like Chris Ferguson there are only two exceptions to the above. I am allowed to buy into any game at $2.50 regardless of my bank roll. For multi-table tournaments, I will always be allowed to do $1 buy-ins.

A big obstacle in the early going is the amount of bad and wild play at low limits. I mean when people have $4 on the table, they don't treat as carefully as if it were $400. It took Chris Ferguson, who happens to be one of the greatest poker players of our time, seven months to get his account from $0 to $6.50. All in all, it took him 16 months to complete the challenge.

Anyone who has any experience with poker knows that this task is going to take a tremendous amount of zen-like patience, and probably many ups and downs. I am actually a bit reluctant to attempt it, because I enjoy a good Saturday multi table tournament. But, that will have to serve as a motivator. Here is a snap shot of my starting bank roll. Wish me luck.

Movie Review: Lucky You

So I am taking a risk here by using my second post on this blog to review a Drew Barrymore movie, so allow me to explain.  

A big part of my love of casino poker, is generally the variety of people you meet.  If I find myself sitting at a table with a few interesting people, I can literally sit there until I can't keep my eyes open (my record is 13 hours straight).  I have also sat at tables with nothing but old and cranky locals who are not there to make small talk.  But the amazing spread of ethnicity, education, income bracket, gender, etc. makes for some very good conversation.  This works both ways of course, you can end up sitting next to some miserable people, or someone who just talks your ear off about boring shit.  My least favorite are the people that like to talk through each move they make, as if they are some sort of poker guru.  But generally speaking, the people who stay the longest are the better quality players who are generally more intelligent.  I mean poker is a thinking game, so this would make sense.

So during one of my evening poker sessions in Vegas recently, someone brought up the subject of 'Worst Poker Movie'.  I actually was busy talking to the drunk dude next to me (he has was a happy go lucky drunk, so I was actually enjoying his 'banter'), so I missed a lot of the titles that were thrown out there.  But one that caused a bit of debate was the recent Barrymore flick, "Lucky You."  I hadn't seen the movie yet, but I had a vague recollection of when it came out and seeing the previews.  The table came to a consensus that while it was not a 'great' movie by any stretch of the imagination, it was tolerable if you needed to suggest a movie to your girl without going with 'Hope Floats' or 'Message in a Bottle' or something of that nature.

So I happened to be sitting home, and this movie was onDemand (or is it inDemand?) so I took the plunge.  Now early on I was not sold on Eric Bana as the pretty poker prodigy.  I mean the fiercest grinders that I have seen are generally not a pretty breed.  I would say as a rule of thumb, if someone sits down looking like Eric Bana, everyone at the table is licking their chops to get a portion of those chips.  Grinders in general are a ratty looking crew (this writer excluded of course).  Some of the early scenes in the movie, Bana just comes off a little douchey to me.  If I had to guess, they casted a guy that was not all that familar with poker players, and was going off of WSOP footage where he sees guys like Matusow and Hellmuth 'hollywooding' for the camera.  But Bana kind of fit into his roll eventually as the movie went on.

Robert Duvall was great I thought.  Duvall plays Bana's pro poker player father who is a legend in his own time.  I was a little annoyed at the interactions of Duvall's character with opposing players, where they would lose chips to him and than thank him for the honor.  I mean come on!

TONS of real life pro players made cameos, and I thought that was pretty cool.  But why not include them in the scenes at the final table of the WSOP?

And without ruining the movie . . . the final table of the WSOP is where the movie lost me.  The scenarios put forth from that point forward are so non-poker-realistic that it is ridiculous.  The movie had a chance to be a decent poker movie, but loses all credibility in the end, making way for a sappy Barrymore standard.  

Nonetheless, the movie has its moments.  The poker stuff is actually pretty entertaining, some bad beats, some degenerate behavior, etc.  Horatio Sanz is pretty entertaining in his role, and makes for a good side character, and the movie as a whole is very painless.  So if I had to rate it, I would give it a whopping 5/10.  I am reviewing this from a poker fan standpoint, and there is just a little too much Barrymore-Bana for me.  It would have been an incredible film if they made it darker and cast two edgier people.  Think Leaving Las Vegas with poker.  Give me a Nick Cage type and some cocktail waittress, and put them in a hotel room in North Vegas, bring in Phillip Seymour Hoffman somehow, and add a splash of Bushemi as the greasey local shark.  Done deal . . . I'll write the script, email me your offers.  Thanks. 

Poker: My Story

So I am assuming that most of the people reading this blog know me, but for future reference, if I do happen to stick with this, I figured I would put a little background on here. 

I started playing poker probably around 2002.  My first forray was online poker.  In hindsight I really don't know what drove me to give it a shot, but I recall that it was one of those "play poker for free" commercials on TV.  Now at the time I was no stranger to gambling, I had a bit of experience in wagering on NFL and even some online blackjack.  I made the occasional trip to AC with friends, but for the most part my gambling was spotty and impulsive.  When I started playing online I really had no idea what I was doing, how to play poker, or really anything that would justify spending money on such a venture.  Since I was in college at the time, money was not exactly easy to come by and I was broke even by starving student standards.

My first few sessions of poker as I recall were heads up matches at $5 a pop.  I figured 50-50 odds teamed with minimum exposure to the fact that I had no knowledge of the game.  I saw some immediate success and felt the rush of winning.  I started entering multi-table tournaments and the rest as they say . . .

Around 2003 I started introducing the game of Texas Hold Em to my friends.  At this time a few of them already knew the game and a few didn't, but our early poker matches coincided with the 'Poker Explosion' of 2003.  Once Chris Moneymaker took the game of poker to new levels my friends and I had started to get a better grip on the game.  At this time I was reading lots of poker books, watching a lot of poker on TV, and regularly owning my home games.  This would not last for long . . . my friends are quick learners.

As far as describing myself as a player I would say I am a strong player, but also a student of the game.  I am still learning things about myself, but Poker is one of the few things that the more I have played and learned, the more I realized how much more there was to mastering the game.  I have had moderate success in my poker 'career'.  In 2005 I won $6K in a 160 person tournament at the Tropicana in Atlantic City.  In my online play I made some decent cashes, but I really didn't enjoy it as much as casino poker.  It took me a long time to 'find myself' with online poker.

Recently, I was diagnosed with ADD and prescribed Ritalin.  Now anyone who really knows me will tell you that it was pretty obvious that I was a poster boy for ADD.  But one of the first effects of the medication, was my ability to 'grind' in a casino without losing my patience and focus.  Through the months of February - May 2009 I was able to do very well in Atlantic City, well enough to pay for my planned trip to Vegas in early May 2009.  While in Vegas I played several 8 hour long sessions, and came out on top before losing a lot of my money playing Blackjack and Craps.  This recent personal success has given me a renewed love for the game, and I launched this blog as a way to examine a experienced player taking a closer look at my game.

Now what about those friends of mine?  Well we have had a home game going for about 4 or 5 years.  Most of us have been playing this regular Thursday game since the beginning.  I would say out of the 10 regulars, 5 of us are accomplished and knowledgable players, but the other half can all hold their own.  The game is pretty serious, but a lot of it is based around joking around, drinking a few beers, and playing some poker.  I typically do not do well in these games, but it is hard to find a week where I do not show up.  Playing with the same group of guys for this amount of time really makes for some strange poker, but it is an absolute necessity in my week.

So that is my short and boring poker history.  What I hope to accomplish with all of this is by adding transparency to my poker dealings, I will be forced to take a closer look at my game and my habits.  I am sure it will be a humorous and entertaining look at my poker playing . . . but make no mistake, I take my poker VERY seriously.  I do have aspirations of taking my game to the next level, but I am not in a position to do that yet.  So stay tuned . . .