Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Hiatus over?
Well - the month of November seems to have passed without me playing very much at all. There's a number of reasons for this that I won't bore you with. Most recently it's been the obsessive amount of time I've spent playing Halo 2...
I thought I'd get too old for video games at some point but apparently this is not the case.
Anyways - I'm off to Colorado tonight to visit my family in Denver. While there I'm sure we'll have a few interesting home games - as my dad and brother are regular online players whose games I'm sure have evolved since I've last seen them.
Also - I'll be making at least one stop to Central City/Blackhawk where the game is 5-5 and the action is loose. Some of you may remember one of my earlier posts on the games in Central City. The Lodge (a casino) is where my poker playing dreams were launched as the first time I went there and sat at the 5-5 game I won over $1000.
Of course my last trip out I dropped about $500 - but the cards ran cold - and I did play somewhat over-aggressive.
It's a bit of a jackpot game - capping before the flop five/six ways. But if you hit some hands - you will certainly hit the jackpot.
I'm going to brush up on my Gary Carson advice on how to play these loose aggressive games - and give it a shot.
In other news - I'm seriously thinking about making it out to the Blogger tournament in Vegas at Sam's Town on December 11th. I e-mailed Pauly and it looks like there's a spot if I can make it out.
I was originally planning a trip to AC that weekend but what's the difference? Plus I would find it really exciting to meet all the people out there who's poker lives I've been following for a good part of the year.
What can I say - I'm almost definitely IN!
In preparation - I'm sure to spend some more time playing online - and though this blog is languishing - hopefully some more interesting poker things will happen in my life in the next few weeks...
Next update should be a trip report from Colorado.
|
Well - the month of November seems to have passed without me playing very much at all. There's a number of reasons for this that I won't bore you with. Most recently it's been the obsessive amount of time I've spent playing Halo 2...
I thought I'd get too old for video games at some point but apparently this is not the case.
Anyways - I'm off to Colorado tonight to visit my family in Denver. While there I'm sure we'll have a few interesting home games - as my dad and brother are regular online players whose games I'm sure have evolved since I've last seen them.
Also - I'll be making at least one stop to Central City/Blackhawk where the game is 5-5 and the action is loose. Some of you may remember one of my earlier posts on the games in Central City. The Lodge (a casino) is where my poker playing dreams were launched as the first time I went there and sat at the 5-5 game I won over $1000.
Of course my last trip out I dropped about $500 - but the cards ran cold - and I did play somewhat over-aggressive.
It's a bit of a jackpot game - capping before the flop five/six ways. But if you hit some hands - you will certainly hit the jackpot.
I'm going to brush up on my Gary Carson advice on how to play these loose aggressive games - and give it a shot.
In other news - I'm seriously thinking about making it out to the Blogger tournament in Vegas at Sam's Town on December 11th. I e-mailed Pauly and it looks like there's a spot if I can make it out.
I was originally planning a trip to AC that weekend but what's the difference? Plus I would find it really exciting to meet all the people out there who's poker lives I've been following for a good part of the year.
What can I say - I'm almost definitely IN!
In preparation - I'm sure to spend some more time playing online - and though this blog is languishing - hopefully some more interesting poker things will happen in my life in the next few weeks...
Next update should be a trip report from Colorado.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Vacation?
Errr.. It's been a long time since I updated my blog. Sorry to those who've come back and checked for an update. Things have been pretty busy this month - not leaving much time for poker. I haven't retired from the game - and I definitely don't plan on abandoning the GotP.
However circumstances seem to have conspired to prevent me from updating as often as I'd like.
Things should ease up in November and I hope to get back online grinding it out and continuing to improve my game. To be honest - I think I've come to a standstill or plateau in terms of my poker play.
The blogger tourney at PokerStars earlier this month was a good example. I'd been a bit out of practice - so I went back to the basics. I resolved to play mostly tight - and relatively cautious the first hour.
This was fine - but the cards didn't cooperate - and I really didn't catch a hand or a flop for the entire first hour. I was able to win a pot or two here and there to stay afloat - but by the second hour I hadn't made any progress when I picked up AK in the BB.
I raised half my stack and picked up a caller. When the board came 3 low cards - I really didn't have much choice but to push. Unfortunately the caller had a pocket pair and called almost instantaneously.
Not much that I figure I could do to change the outcome of that hand...
In my regular home game on Fridays - I've been running pretty bad as well. Usually I can use my tight image to good effect - winning enough small pots early on with a combination of slow plays and steal moves to make it down to the final few players.
But my recent lack of success seems to be something that other players pick up on. For some reason - if you aren't dragging pots, it creates a perception that you don't have a hand. Like vultures over a rotting carcass the other players start to target you - and as they know I will lay down hands - even put steal moves on me!
And I sure seem to be picking some poor times to push at pots.
It used to be that the game was so full of loose cannons - that a tight player like me could pick up quite a few uncontested pots. No longer...
The game has tightened up - and instead of unbridled aggression - slow plays - and even re-steals have become pretty common.
I just haven't made the proper adjustments - trying to play a game that really isn't my style. (too loose and sometimes too aggressive)
It's definitely something that's bothering me - and I plan to try to find my game again.
More to come on this later...
Vacation's over.
See y'all at the tables.
|
Errr.. It's been a long time since I updated my blog. Sorry to those who've come back and checked for an update. Things have been pretty busy this month - not leaving much time for poker. I haven't retired from the game - and I definitely don't plan on abandoning the GotP.
However circumstances seem to have conspired to prevent me from updating as often as I'd like.
Things should ease up in November and I hope to get back online grinding it out and continuing to improve my game. To be honest - I think I've come to a standstill or plateau in terms of my poker play.
The blogger tourney at PokerStars earlier this month was a good example. I'd been a bit out of practice - so I went back to the basics. I resolved to play mostly tight - and relatively cautious the first hour.
This was fine - but the cards didn't cooperate - and I really didn't catch a hand or a flop for the entire first hour. I was able to win a pot or two here and there to stay afloat - but by the second hour I hadn't made any progress when I picked up AK in the BB.
I raised half my stack and picked up a caller. When the board came 3 low cards - I really didn't have much choice but to push. Unfortunately the caller had a pocket pair and called almost instantaneously.
Not much that I figure I could do to change the outcome of that hand...
In my regular home game on Fridays - I've been running pretty bad as well. Usually I can use my tight image to good effect - winning enough small pots early on with a combination of slow plays and steal moves to make it down to the final few players.
But my recent lack of success seems to be something that other players pick up on. For some reason - if you aren't dragging pots, it creates a perception that you don't have a hand. Like vultures over a rotting carcass the other players start to target you - and as they know I will lay down hands - even put steal moves on me!
And I sure seem to be picking some poor times to push at pots.
It used to be that the game was so full of loose cannons - that a tight player like me could pick up quite a few uncontested pots. No longer...
The game has tightened up - and instead of unbridled aggression - slow plays - and even re-steals have become pretty common.
I just haven't made the proper adjustments - trying to play a game that really isn't my style. (too loose and sometimes too aggressive)
It's definitely something that's bothering me - and I plan to try to find my game again.
More to come on this later...
Vacation's over.
See y'all at the tables.
