I am THE James

It has officially been one year since I took a trip for the sole purpose of playing in a tournament.  Last year I played in the United States Poker Championships and then took a hiatis from poker due to financial reasons.  I took my poker bankroll and turned it into rent and expenses money.  From that point, most of you know my journey from business owner to poker writer.  Well, as of next month, I will be back on the road playing tournaments again.

The Fall Poker Classic at the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas will take place starting Nov 24th and I will be there.   Every event except the Women’s event is a non-holdem event.  Right up my alley.  It should be a blast.  I will be staying at the 4 Queens Hotel and Casino due to a great rate I found there.  I plan to go out and do well at the Nugget.  The tourney set looks to be a great one.  I hope the structures match the promise.

After the event, I am not quite sure what I am up to next.  I may stay in California a few days and play out there.  There will be a couple of events at the Bike I might play and I would like to play some west coast stud and stud 8.  That’s not a definite yet.  The Tunica Circuit event is out and the schedule looks ok now that they have posted the right one.  I might go down there for a week in January.  I am not sure yet.  I’m also going to see if the Trump is going to put up a schedule for December for their Trump Classic.

One of my new gigs looks to be able to provide me enough stability financially to allow me to travel again, and if it keeps up, that will be great.  Not much else going on right now with me other than staying busy.  Depending on how I feel, I may drive up to AC this week and play some cash games.  I can’t wait to get back out on the poker trail.  And now that my work is actually centered around poker, my play will support my work.

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.

The last few days my sleep patterns have been reversed.  For those of you looking at me confused, that means I am sleeping like a NORMAL PERSON.  What the hell?  The good thing is that I have picked up two more clients.  I don’t know how the volume will pan out, but I have been paid for the work done so far.  Seems like whatever I try and pursue, I wind up successful in some fashion or another.

Schedules have come out for events this month and next in Oklahoma and Tunica and both have a good mix of games.  If it weren’t for the expense of getting to Oklahoma, I would go out there and play the events.  I’m still toying with Tunica.  I may choose that over Atlantic City.  I haven’t had the best of luck in AC tourneys other than daily’s.  Plus, the Tunica events are cheaper.  The one downside is that the trip is twice as long as the AC trip.  I may just go up to AC and play cash games.  Yes, I’ve probably already said that, but I’m still toying with the idea.  I saw the schedule for the Bike’s Big Poker Ocktober.  I am not impressed.  One Omaha Hi-Lo and one Stud Hi-Lo event, and the rest crapshoot.   I am waiting to see what the Commerce puts out.   Yes, I am contemplating a trip out west.  When?  Who knows.  How am I getting the money?  Who knows.

I wrote an article today on Omaha Hi-Lo.  I thought I would have a hard time coming up with an 1,000 word article introducing the game and providing basic strategy.  I fooled myself.  There is so much involved just educating a player how to play the game properly that I didn’t really get much into starting hand values etc.  I wound up making the article an introduction to Omaha and will have to write a second article on beginner strategy.    Other games, I didnt have to do this as I didn’t have certain aspect of the game to explain.  Works for me tho, more money from the articles.

For those of you asking, no, I haven’t heard anymore from PokerNews about future work.  Others are getting gigs and I am not even getting replies to messages.  Oh well.  It’s always best to go out and find your own clients anyway folks.   I would love to have enough writing and blogging gigs to where I don’t need another job.  I’m working on it.

I truly think that  I am done with the data business for good.  I just don’t have the desire to work it anymore.  The money was good while it lasted but the landscape of the business model changed too much to make my way of doing things profitable anymore.  Change occurs inevitably.  I cannot complain however.  My house is paid for, as well as my car.  Many people twice my age cannot boast that.

I was asked last night if I had been playing any lately.  I wish I could say I felt like it, but I don’t.  Online poker just doesn’t do it for me.  If I am going to play, I want to play live.  Even then, I can only play so much before I am bored with it.  A certain person keeps trying to get me to come play a game locally and at their home game. I just am not interested.  I’ll read about it, write about it, even watch it on TV.  Play?  Nah, don’t feel like it.

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. 

During the main event of the World Series of Poker, I mentioned to one of my field reporters that Barbara Enright is in his section and he should follow her. He replied that he knew and jokingly said, “Who cares about Barbara Enright?” Well lets see, just a majority of the poker world and the Poker Hall of Fame. That’s all. Enright just took down her third title of the year on sunday when she won the Ladies Event at Legends of Poker. So far this year, Enright has three wins, 6 final tables, and a cash at this past World Series of Poker. Maybe it me, but that sounds like someone worth following.

Great job Barbara, keep up the great work. Let’s see a deep run in the LOP Main Event!

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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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.

I still got it. At least for tonight anyway. I just took 4th in a H.O.R.S.E. tournament over at Green Valley Ranch. The structure was such where the game and the levels changed every 15 minutes. To a degree, that makes this tournament a luck fest. For those that can play limit poker properly, this isn’t as big a deal as one thinks. (more…)

Tomorrow, I embark on my summer journey as a reporter for Pokernews.com.  Starting Monday, I will be helping to cover the main event of the WSOP Circuit.  Afterwards, I will head out to Vegas for two months to help cover the World Series of Poker.  I am really looking forward to the trip overall.  There are some people I am going to miss from home, but I am really looking forward to get back out on the circuit road and hopefully reconnect with a few friends and make some new ones.

I will naturally get some time in at the tables as well, but not to the degree I have in the past.  I will primarily be going out to Vegas to work the WSOP.  I may play a couple of the Binions events or maybe ride out to Los Angeles and play at the Bike if I can get a day off during a mixed event, but I will not be playing at the World Series this year.  It is just too expensive for my bankroll right now.  Plus, to be honest, I just haven’t put in the time for anything other than Stud 8.

One good thing is that I have a couple of friends I can visit while I am out there, so I don’t HAVE to play poker on my off days.  I may finally get around to seeing some of the sights this year not related to casinos or poker, but probably not. 

Right now, I am scheduled to be out there until July 15^th.  After the 15^th, I am not sure what I will be doing.  I may stay out there another week or so and play a couple of Orleans Open events.  Then again, if a certain thing happens in my personal life, I may be going somewhere to spend some time with someone.  Everything is too iffy right now to really know.

For anyone interested, I will probably make some entries letting folks know what’s going on at the series.  Otherwise, if any of you are interested in following my coverage, go over to pokernews.com and go under live reporting.  Any entries with the nickname of compncards will be mine.  I expect that at the series, you will see me covering primarily mixed games, especially stud based games. 

Anywho, hope everyone has a fantastic summer and keeps reading as I will try and keep you abreast of my travels.  Otherwise, I will see you around the end of July.