I am THE James

I got back late on the 5th from my trip to Tunica to cover the WSOP-C for PokerNews.com.  It was a decent trip overall.  I didn’t play poker but twice.  I played one cash game and finished ahead and busted out of the only satellite I played in.  The satellite was just for giggles mostly and to say that I at least played at the circuit this year.

The tournament had a decent turnout, but the numbers were still down from last year.  The field that came out was a strong field nonetheless.  Gavin Smith, Bill Edler, Matt Stout, Kathy Liebert, Allen Kessler,  “Captain” Tom Franklin, and Jason Potter all came out. There were also some tournament regulars there as well that you see all around the circuit.  Heading down to three tables, it looked like we might have a pro stacked final table.  In the end, only Matt Stout and Mike Leah were the only true professionals at the table.  We all were pulling for Stout to take it down, but he was knocked out in third.

I got several compliments on my coverage of the event.  A couple of different people came up to me at the final table and was quoting my blogs back verbatim.  Matt Stout even gave me a shout out in the shout box.  That was appreciated.  Hopefully I will get to cover some other circuit events before the beginning of the WSOP.  Considering that it took 6 months to get this one, the prospects don’t look bright.  However, I am available if needed.

Lately, I have been trying to pull the same type of stunt that both Chris Ferguson and Daniel Negreanu have been doing.  They both started out at micro stakes and tried to build up a bankroll.  The difference is that I am trying to do so in Stud 8 or Better.  I have discovered that I may be in for a long road to hoe.  My sessions have been up and down lately and it is becoming apparent that I need to stick to a tighter strategy.  I have been tinkering with my game a bit in NL and in Stud 8 and I notice that in Stud 8, I am leaking off chips.  Typical beginner leaks that I know are there but I have been ignoring because the leaks may cost me literally a buck at the most when I have them.  Of course, when I am hitting, I am hitting decent.  The problem is that I cannot play like that long term in a limit game and hope to be successful long term.  Honestly, I have already decided what I am going to do, but I just wanted to ramble a little bit.

For the first time in almost two years, I played a home game last night.  A friend of mine hosted five other people and we played a “Dealer’s Choice” home game.  Of course, every hand I dealt was Stud 8.  With the exception of myself and one other player, all of these players were utter novices to poker.  One didn’t even know a flush lost to a straight.  As a result, I played very very loose to begin with.  How loose?  I called with a J-10-9 offsuit in Stud 8 on third with 3 low cards up.  That’s how loose.  I ended up making a straight and nobody made low.

This group play uber loose and somewhat aggressive at times.  They also played a wide mix of games.  The oldest guy at the table played 5 card Draw and 5 card Stud almost every time.  I didn’t play a single hand of 5 Stud.  The guy that didn’t know a flush beat a straight liked to play this wierd Indian Cross poker.  I basically only played the deal unless I hit the board super hard.

The hand that I won the biggest pot on was a variation of blind man’s bluff.  Yes, I am talking about where you take a card and put it on your forehead and bet according to what you see.  Well, the first card was dealt and I looked around and the highest card I saw was a 10.  At this point, I am thinking that I will stick in this hand and take a 2nd card and see what develops.  There is a raise and everyone calls.  Then a 2nd card is dealt.   I take a look around and the best hand is 10-6 out of the other 5 players.  I decided that I would pump the pot at this point, and I did.  I got four bets out of the remaining 4 players in the hand.  When we showed down, I just said “I win” before even looking at my cards.  Everyone was in shock.   I explained that everyone had a 10 high or lower and the odds of my not having a face card were long.  Also, I picked up a non-verbal tell from another player that told me that he feared my hand against everyone else’s.  Oh by the way, my hand was J-10.  I beat them with Jack high!!!

I was up probably double my buy-in and then gave a little of it back on a couple of hands where I had a 4 low in stud 8 and couldn’t catch.  I still finished up 3/4 of a buy-in.  In the end, I called it a night when every hand was being played with wild cards.  When there are wild cards, that eliminates the skill factor and makes it a total game of luck.  The good thing is that I picked up some tells and betting patterns of players.  The next time I go to play in two weeks, I’ll probably do as well or better.

First, I realize that I have not updated this blog since November. I just haven’t taken the time to do so. So, with that being said, I thought I would take some time and give you an update on my trip out west and my life in general.

Overall, my trip out west turned out well. The first day was a little shaky due to my plane getting grounded due to engine problems. However, after arriving to Vegas 8 hours late, I got to my hotel. The rooms at the 4 Queens were much nicer than I expected for the amount I paid. Nice pillow top beds and big plasma TV’s. Room service was also reasonably prices. Other than Subway, I mostly ate room service. (Subway ended up being higher than room service was on some occasions. Go figure.)

The Grand convention area inside of the Golden Nugget was a nice place to hold an event. I enjoyed my time at the Nugget. I wound up finishing 9th in one H.O.R.S.E. event and finished 5th in the Mixed Event. Unfortunately, the 5th place finish did not garner me any money due to only 21 players registering for the event. The event paid 3 spots. The H.O.R.S.E. event paid 9. While it appeared I just squeaked in the money, that was far from the case. Two players were much shorter than I was when we got to the money, but as things turned out, the short stacks kept doubling and I stayed card dead. I could have made the final table if I folded the last hand I played, but thats how it goes.

The same week I cashed at the Nugget, I finished 4th in a H.O.R.S.E. event at Green Valley Ranch. Again, I had enough chips to make the top three but the guy in 4th place went on an amazing run of cards. I can’t complain too much. I played well, made the final table, and cashed.

After Vegas, I went to Los Angeles for a few days. I decided to play in two events at the Bike. The first was an Omaha 8 or Better event. That event I never could get anything going and went out on back to back hands when my kings full ran into aces full and then my flopped set of kings was outdrawn by a Royal Flush. I was all in on the flop in the Royal Flush hand. Hey, if I am going to lose, thats the way to lose. The next day, I played in an Omaha 8 weekly tourney at Hawaain Gardens and finished 12th in that one. Unfortunately it paid 10. That tournament had an insane structure where with 20 players left, the chip leader of the tournament had only 10 big bets. The big stack at my table had 4. I had 2 big bets and I had 4,500 chips.

The Limit Holdem tournament at the Bike was the last event I played in L.A. This event had its ups and downs, but I went on a big of a run about mid way of the event to build a nice stack. I was able to make the money in the event and eventually finish 12th place. If I would have won one more pot late in the event, I would have made the final table as we made the final table about 10 minutes after I busted. It was cool though. I played well in the event and got my 15th pro cash. I don’t know what it is about Vegas and Los Angeles that makes me perform so well, but I seem to step up my game out there.

My goal for the trip poker wise was to cash twice with 1 final table at the Nugget and to cash once in L.A. I wound up making 1 cash and 1 final table in Vegas. Of course, I ended up playing 3 fewer events than I had planned. I played 3 events as opposed to 6 events. The cash at Green Valley I don’t count since it does not count towards lifetime stats. Since I played fewer events in Vegas, I consider myself as hitting my goal. The L.A. trip, I met my goal.

After leaving L.A., I drove out to Reno to check it out. Reno is basically a smaller version of Vegas. It was ok, but I only played in one casino out there. I played at the Peppermill, where I played a couple hours at $3-$6 Omaha 8. It was a decent game, but after a couple of hours, I was bored. The Limit Holdem table had 15 names on it, so I left. The next day, I decided to head out to Virginia City, NV.

First, I stopped at the Fandango Casino in Carson City, NV. I had to pass a couple of hours before I could check into my hotel, so I decided to play in the Noon No Limit tourney. $35 with rebuys to the final table. I get into the room to play and the guy running the event is familiar. I ask him how I might know him and he tells me he used to run the tournaments at the Bike. RUBEN!!!! I then remember him and reminded him about how I was the guy that wanted to play stud satellites all the time. He then remembered me. We both asked each other, “What are you doing out here.” I told Ruben about my reasons, and I found out from him that he was retired and just took the job at the Fandango cause the area was so laid back. He was right. This was a 3 table poker room and we didn’t fill the tables. As far as the tournament, I was one of the chip leaders until a hand with 11 players left where a guy went all in against me with middle pair against my top pair. He got lucky and paired his kicker and I was crippled. I then managed a double up just shy of the final table. I did not rebuy since I didn’t want to waste any more money on a tourney that will pay only three spots. My final hand, I get 9-2 in the big blind and see a free flop. I flop top pair and push. Unfortunately, my opponent held Q-9 and busted me. This is the same guy that got lucky against me earlier. Anywho, while I wasn’t happy with how things turned out, I couldn’t complain too much. Just before the tournament, I hit two four of a kinds on a video poker machine. It paid for my buy-in to the event and then some.

After the game, I go on to Virginia City. If you want to experience how things used to be, go to Virginia City. When they say you are stepping back in time, they mean it. You will not find ANY franchises anywhere in this town. The gas station is probably 50 years old. It was a lot of fun to stay in this town. I played a lot at the local saloons. They had some video poker machines with great odds and some that still paid coins. I only had one losing day in Va City playing video poker and I won overall for the trip there. One day, I literally went around to every Saloon that was open and hit for a minimum of 30 bucks at each one. The Saloon owners were not happy with me that day. I also took some old western style pics while I was there. One of them is above.

After Virginia City, I went back to Vegas and spent a few more days before coming back home. I didn’t play anymore poker on the trip and mostly just played Video Poker. Anywho, the trip was a blast overall and I just mostly hit the highlights.

Now on to the new year. The theme for this year for myself will be health and music. On the 5th, I started working out with a personal trainer to help me lose weight. I have let my way get and stay out of control for much too long and I plan to take back the control. My goal is to get under 300 lbs eventually. I started at an insane weight of 425.6 pounds. My initial goal is to get under 400. So far, I am doing well as I am down to 417 as of today. That’s 8.6 pounds thus far. I am both dieting and exercising with the assistance of my personal trainer Tara. I truly feel that with the plan I am on, I will succeed this time. I will keep updates on this blog and let you know my progress.

The other part of this year’s theme is music. I have officially started taking piano lessons at the Mendez Academy of Music in Lynchburg, Va. Erin gave me some lessons at one point and I will now take them to another level and try to learn the piano properly. I have always wanted to play but thought it would be too difficult. Erin proved me wrong and so now I want to learn how to play.

I will continue with my poker writing. I have to fund my changes of course. As far as my poker playing, I don’t know when I will be playing in another event. I think focusing on my health will be my biggest concern. If I don’t have my health, poker becomes irrelevant. The next trip I will take will probably be the World Series of Poker in June. When I go, I will probably only go a couple of weeks as I will be working 4-H camp this year.

Anyway, I have a lot of busy and interesting times ahead of me. Keep reading as I will keep you updated about my journey.

I’m currently sitting here watching a guy on PokerStars play in a couple of tourneys and giving advice along the way in a certain game.  Mostly on Stud 8 and some on Stud.   He has done pretty well and is at the final table of one tourney right now with the chip lead.  Should be interesting to see if he wins.  In the time I typed this sentence he just became second in chips.  It is interesting watching people play mixed games that are weak in a couple.  Fortunately he was bright enough to seek help.  Anywho, not much else going on.

They are down to three.   He has a decent chance to win.  I guess we will see what happens.

September 13, 1975 is when it all started.  From that day forth the world has been host to THE James.  Today is the celebration of that day.  And what am I doing for this grand day?  My ass is getting up early, going to a bunkhouse kitchen and entering shooting scores into a computer.  Ya, real exciting eh?  Well, not all 4-H volunteer work is exciting, but it has to be done.  I’ll be going a little early so I can go have a birthday dinner with my friend Summer.

Have you ever had one of your friends go off in such a rage of anger that you end up touched about how much they really care about you?   That happened to me this week.  I won’t go into the why my friend went off like she did, but by the time she was done I was really touched by what she said, even if she was hopping mad when she said it.

Tomorrow, I am going with my friend Erin to see Mamma Mia.  She couldn’t get together with me today because of her working.  Believe it or not, I picked this movie.  For those of you that look at me cockeyed, realize I am a person who saw Sweeney Todd at the theatre 4 times.  Besides, the only other movie I wanted to see I promised another female friend I would go see Wednesday.

Lately, I have been playing a lot of NL Single Draw 2-7 Lowball sit-n-gos on PokerStars.  With the exception of one, I have at least cashed in every one.  In these Sngs you must make it heads-up to make the money.  Today I played 3.  I won two and finished 2nd in the other one.  I have been have somewhat poor results in triple draw limit lowball.  I found out really quick in this game how wide of an array of hands you can consistently win with.  One thing that I do like to still try and stick with is to try and only do 1 card draws while we are still 4 handed or more.  Obviously that doesn’t always become the case, but I try.

My runs in Stud 8 or Better lately have been pretty bad.  Some of it is frankly bad play on my part.  I have been making a few plays and getting too fancy.  In the last day or so, I have went back to playing with a little more sense and have at least finished ahead in every session.  I think I need to go back and focus on playing some tournaments as opposed to the cash games I have been playing.  I enjoy tournaments a lot more and I seem to focus harder on them.

Speaking of which, I have tried to pick up a couple of books to work on my Stud HI tournament game a little bit.  I am a good stud player.  I know this, but my tournament results live when I have played have been outright horrible.  My feeling is my problem comes from playing a certain style that doesn’t work as well as it should in tournaments.  I’m going to take a look at a couple of books and see if I can get some inspiration.  I may just end up getting a friend of mine to sit me down and teach me some finer points like Bill Boston taught me regarding Stud 8.

I intended to go to Atlantic City sometime this coming week for the United States Poker Championships.  That’s not happening now.  I love the schedule, but I am holding onto my money and also focusing some on my writing.  My gigs have really picked up lately, especially from one dude that has me writing a lot on poker.  I talked to the guy at PokerNews about future gigs with them and it isn’t looking real promising.  I got the “we may have work” line.  I probably won’t hear from them until around WSOP time.   That’s fine too.  Actually, if things keep going the way they are with this one client writing, I may not want to take on any other gigs for a while.  That wouldn’t upset me at all.

Anywho, have a great weekend all.  Maybe Ill come back and tell you what Summer got me for my birthday.

Pingback and bogus commenters are getting a little more creative with their comments.  I have a blog on Poker After Dark that gets a lot of bogus comments like this one.  One comment I got just today was just too funny.  It read:

“I’m the artist formally known as Beck. I have a genius wig. When I put that wig on, then the true genius emerges. I don’t have enough hair to be a genius. I think you have to have hair going everywhere.”

What???  I don’t smoke dope, but whatever this guy is smoking, I want some. 

The United States Poker Championships have released their schedule for this fall.  The event starts on September 14^th, the day after my birthday.  Funny thing is, I was thinking of going to Atlantic City the week after my birthday.  Look at the schedule for the event and you tell me if you can see why I am interested:

Sept. 14, 11:15am, Limit Hold’em, $300 + $40

Sept. 15, 11:15am, Seven Card Stud, $500 + $50

Sept. 16, 11:15am, Seven Card Stud Hi/Low 8 or better, $500 + $50

Sept. 17, 11:15am, Omaha Hi/Low 8 or better, $500 + $50

Sept. 18, 11:15am, 2-Way P/L Hold’em & P/L Omaha, $500 + $50

Sept. 19, 11:15am, H-O-S-E (Hold’em-Omaha H/L-Stud-Stud H/L), $500 + $50

What a fantastic way to open the event.  Also, there is a Stud event on the 22^nd, a PL Omaha 8 event on the 24^th, an Omaha 8 event on Oct 1, a PL Holdem event on Oct 2^nd, ANOTHER Stud event on Oct 6^th and finally another PL Omaha 8 event on October 8^th. 

I so want to go, but I really don’t know if I want to put up the money that all those events would require.  Maybe I will go play the cash games.  That sounds like a plan.  I already know I can get a room for $33 a night in Absecon.  It’s tempting folks. 

I must say that I really respect the USPC for putting out a schedule like this.  I was a little worried that they would get away from mixed games up there, but I guess my apprehension was misplaced. 

In regards to my personal life, most of my time lately has been spent either blogging or job hunting.  (Mostly for writing or blogging jobs)  I hope that somewhere down the line I can pick up a few more contracts and continue working for myself.  Also, I did apply for a Mainframe support job.  It looked like entry level and from the looks of it, not all that difficult.  There aren’t too many mainframe folks in the area.  Actually, I’m not a mainframe person either, but I do have several years IT support experience.  Hopefully that will get me a look. 

Otherwise, not much is going on at the moment.  I think it’s time to go submit myself for a couple more jobs.  Take care all. 

As hard as it may be for some of you to believe, I have actually been obsessed in the last couple of days playing NL Holdem. Those of you whose jaws just hit the floor, you can pick them up now. I have been playing a lot of HEADS-UP NL Holdem in the last couple of days. I actually do enjoy this version of NL. The main reason is that a lot of people just don’t know how to play heads-up properly. I love the players that try to be uber aggressive with me. I just sit back, pick up a decent hand or wait for them to lure me in when they get their monsters. If my garbage hits when they have a monster, I tend to break them. The players that aren’t uber-aggressive, I tend to play a modified version of smallball with. I had one player last night that played the game as if it were Limit Holdem. Yum Yum. There were only about 5 times total that I have been all-in or pushed someone all-in and was called with the worst hand pre-flop. Two of the times, I sucked out.

The same frustrations that I experience with a ring game of NL Holdem are still there, but it isn’t as magnified. Also, I am playing Sit-N-Go’s and not cash games, so that helps. That reminds me of a talk I had with a friend of mine Mickey last night. He expressed that when he is running bad, the game affects his overall mood. I tend to sympathise with him. One thing that I mentioned to him was the fact that I tend to get frustrated more in cash games as opposed to Sit-N-Go’s. In SNG’s, once I pay the money, I consider it gone forever unless I cash. In a cash game, I see the actual money going up or down depending on how I am running. I am not like some people where the money doesn’t mean anything to me at all, so there is I guess the added psychological pressure. True, this is all in my head, but at least I admit it.

My Stud-8 game has been running really well lately. I’ve only had 2 losing session, and 0 losing days so far. I probably need to work on my Stud 8 tournament game some. It is still hard for me to find the patience to sit for a long tournament online. In a future blog, I will go over my Stud 8 cash at Binion’s during my Vegas trip.

I don’t really feel like talking about much else right now, so have a good one folks.

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A lot of interesting and strange things happened at the WSOP this summer.  Some good and some bad.  Below are some things I discovered:

Harrahs truly does try and accommodate all players.  We had deaf players, legally blind players, players in wheelchairs, players with no arms, and even a quadriplegic.  (With that being said, the media is TOO SENSITIVE in trying not to offend handicapped players.)

Mike Matusow is just as insane off the camera as on.  (Proven by him coming up to me and randomly ranting about his chip stack during a break.  Why did he come and rant to me personally?  I made eye contact I guess.  I don’t know.)

David Singer complains a lot….

John Phan would get a ticket in Oklahoma for playing too slow.

People take $10,000 whims….

Blogs do indeed take on people’s personalities.  (I wrote some blog entries during one event and for two days people came up and TOLD me that I wrote that.  Didn’t ask me.  They told me.  And most didn’t even know my name.)

The phrase “One time” is probably the most overused phrase in history.

Followed by “bad beat.”

Followed directly by “ship it.”

Playing connect four is so much fun, but YOU play alone, cause you’re a virgin.

People have a hard time grasping the concept as to why a decent poker player would rather do something other than play poker.  (You have no idea how many times I was asked why I didn’t play.)

Younger players need to learn more about the history of poker beyond Doyle Brunson, Stu Unger, and Johnny Chan.

Jean-Robert Bellande may appear to be a jerk but he does have an honorable side.  In the Limit Shootout, he was heads up and his opponent did not return on time from break.  He refused to take his seat and let the dealer pass the blinds around until his opponent arrived.

“If you don’t lose a hand heads up, you will eventually win a tournament.”  - Words of wisdom from Tom Schneider referring to Daniel Negranu’s bracelet win.

This past Monday, I returned from my stint at the World Series of Poker as a blogger for PokerNews.com. It was a fantastic experience, one which I hope to get the chance to do again sometime. Playing in the World Series is a lot different from reporting the World Series. I actually enjoyed the later more this time. One reason is that I didn’t have the stress associated with playing. The last two years, I was burnt out by the time the World Series was over. This year, I could have continued on past the time my contract expired. I was glad to be done though. By the time 4-H Camp time arrived, I was sort of regretting my decision. I ended up figuring out later on that was just due to my missing camp. I talked with several people about camp, and things went well. Step will be taken to where I can attend next year. There is a small hole in me that is noticeably missing due to not attending camp. At the same time, we must make sacrifices in our lives at time to make our overall life better, or at least put ourselves in said position. (more…)

I am writing from Event #29, the $3,000 NL Event.  Since I have last posted, we finished event #22, the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.  Jens Voertmann won the event, but it was a fantastic final table with Marcel Luske, Steve Zolotow, Hoyt Corkins, and Jennifer Harman.  Out of those four, only Marcel had any real shot to win as he finished 3rd.  He was up and down a long time but finally his loose style caught up to him.  I am glad that Voertmann won out of the two left, especially after one hand late.  Doug Ganger and Voertmann were playing a hand of Omaha Hi-Lo where Ganger slowrolled Voertmann.  After that hand, it was as if Voertmann said, “Ok, we play now.”  He just flattened Ganger after that point.

Today, I am covering the $3,000 NL event.  Some big names, but a lot of the top tier names are over in the $10,000 Limit Event.  I would much rather be there, but I guess I have to do time in the NL jail.  Actually, it’s not too bad to cover.  Its actually simple.  I think thats the point.  Its so simple a game that after a while, everything is routine.

After this event, in three days I cover the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship.  That should be a lot of fun.  The only down side to all this is that I am beginning to miss some of my friends, which was to be expected.

Unless I make a last minute change, I probably wont play in a WSOP event this year.  I am planning on playing the Stud 8 or Better event down at Binion’s on the 24th, but right now anything else will depend on my schedule and how I feel.  I may hang around and play over at the Orleans open next month, but I haven’t decided.

Anyway, I will try and write again before the end of the 3k event, but this event isn’t all that exciting.

Well, the 10k Stud World Championship is behind us and Eric Brooks wound up winning the event.  With 16 players left we had Chad Brown, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Erik Seidel left in our field.  Out of all of those, only Seidel made the final.  Seidel could never amass a huge stack at the final and as a result finished 5th.

I was not surprised in the least that Kostritsyn finished 3rd.  In fact, if not for some card catching, he should have been out long before then.  He made a lot of rookie mistakes during the final table.   From what I saw of his play, it amazes me that he even cashed, much less finished third in the event.  He was a prime target to trap and take a lot of chips from.  Eric Brooks caught on to this and took two huge chunks out his ass at the final table.  I told my partner Heath that was covering the event that the true stud players would take advantage of him, and they did.

Today begins the 3K H.O.R.S.E. event.  This should be a very stacked field as you will have mixed games specialist and a lot of pros trying to make their way through a smaller field.  I would not be surprised if we had 400 or more players in this event.  500 wouldn’t shock me.  I will be covering the event for Pokernews, so head over there and click on live reporting.

Finally got my first paycheck for this gig, so I finally have some money.  I haven’t played much my last two days off due to the fact I was nearly broke.  I mostly just hung out.   Summer called me today and told me that she might fly out to see me while I am here.  That would be good.  I miss her.   Of course that will just get a couple more guys talking more than they already are.  I will go into that further in a future post.

Anywho, got to go get ready for work.