Let Poker and Vegas Save Me!

Yes, I actually played some Poker this week. I played in the $15,000 guarantee midnight madness and actually finished in the money. I think I made a whole 3 bucks! Considering I haven’t played a Poker Tournament since I was in Vegas last December, I’ll take it. There really weren’t any memorable hands, I just happened to get some good pocket pairs at the right time and got all my chips in the middle. I expected someone to suck out but my cards actually held up and I stayed alive.

Speaking of Poker, I cannot believe I am going to be in Vegas again in just a couple of weeks. I’m excited of course but also nervous. I think this is the first time I am going to be there with no “security blanket”. No Maura, mom, dad or Shelly sharing space with me and helping me keep my insecurities at bay. I will be all by myself. It is not that I’ve never been to Vegas alone before, I went on a short trip a couple of months after 9/11, but I am going with expectations to hang out with my friends and wondering if anyone really wants to hang out with me or if I am just going to be humored for a while and then abandoned. See, I told you I have insecurities. Well, everyone is insecured. Even the best Poker players are! I consider those who do not have any insecurity, overconfident. And overconfidence are common traits of assholes.

No worries though. I am so excited to go to Vegas alone without worrying anything or anyone. I just hope i meet someone who is hot. Laugh out loud. I can always go back to my condo and curl up in the fetal position under the kitchen table if I feel like a reject. Actually, I’ll probably just go play Poker or something and take my anger out on some young asshole who thinks he is God’s gift to the Poker table.

Anyway, I am not asking for anyone to hold my hand and make sure I feel included in whatever happens to be going on. I am a big girl and just need to get over myself and have a good time. Seriously, I will be in Vegas. If I cannot manage to have a good time there, I am even more screwed up than I thought. But i guess whatever happens, i will need to make sure that i get the best time of my life there. I need to seize everything, the time, the money, the boys. I cannot afford to slack off and then go home with a face that is so bad vibes.

See you in Vegas!

So you envy me because i have a lot of money you can only dream of?

Because I have been earning a lot for the past three years, many people have taken notice and would always seem to ask me what is my secret. They notice that I do not leave home and I do not have a regular work. At first, I was hesitant to tell them but eventually I told them that the secret is about playing Poker. They were like “you earn a lot of money because of gambling? But we do not see you leave home” Well, I told them that playing Online Poker does not require anyone to leave home. Since then, they have been bugging me asking how to play Online Poker. Since they do not really play and do not know how Poker, I had to teach them the how tos first.

For players, like my neighbors, who are just learning to play Poker or are learning a new game they have little or no experience with, Online Poker offers a wonderful arena to increase skill, knowledge of the game, and possibly build a bankroll at the same time. Most sites offer the opportunity to play Online Poker for free, using play money. Some sites even have “free rolls,” which are tournaments you may enter for free that pay out real money to the winners. In addition, many sites offer real money limits as low as .01/.02. The largest entry level limit at any site currently is 1/2.

The play at the free money tables is not very good, and it is recommended using them only to get a feel for the gaming software and/or to learn a new game. The smaller games of .01/.02 up to .25/.50 (often called micro limits) offer a slightly more realistic feel to a poker game because you play for real money, but the play is horrendous. As you climb in levels, the play improves, but some games as high as 3/6 and 5/10 can have some inexperienced players, just like at a live Poker Room.

The Online Poker business is highly competitive. As mentioned above, Poker Rooms make money from players in the form of rakes (the amount of money a card room takes from each pot) and entry fees. The more players a site has, the more revenue it will generate. For this reason, it seems as though every site has poker bonus offers to attract new players.

Practically every site offers a bonus on a player’s first deposit ranging from 20 percent (deposit $100 and receive a $20 bonus) up to 100 percent (deposit $100 and get a $100 bonus). These deposit bonuses are usually tied to a requirement to play a predetermined amount of raked hands. Before depositing in any online site, make sure you have read the terms and conditions so you know exactly what you must do to receive the bonus.

Many sites also periodically offer reload bonuses (usually requiring another deposit under the same terms and conditions as a first-time bonus) to current players to entice them to keep playing at the site. Many players continuously move from site to site collecting these bonuses (often called bonus hunting), which can be a good way to increase a player’s profit per hour of poker play. In addition, if you are able to simply play break-even Poker Rooms, bonuses can make you a profit as you improve your game.

While playing Poker Rooms online can be fun and exciting, it also requires hard work through, studying or reading Poker Reviews, and observing games at an Online Poker or live Poker location. Poker is easy money if you have the right skills.

Poker Players, what is on your ipod playlist?

iPods are one of the best investments people have made and will ever made. It has become an important part of every tournament game. Poker players it seems have always had a hard time focusing while on the Poker table, but it hasn’t been as much of a problem lately.

Personally, when I turn my iPod on, I am not paying attention to the hustle and bustle in the tournament area. I am not saying “Hi” to my friend a few tables away or getting involved in the idiot chatter at my table. I am strictly paying attention to the action on my game. A lot of the time, I turn the volume down low enough to hear the action and the verbal tells, but the player next to me doesn’t know that. He usually won’t engage in conversation with me because I have the headphones on. Some people might think that listening to music while playing would be distracting, but it has helped me focus ten-fold. As a matter of fact, one final table I played on, Someone told me to put the headphones back on when he saw me conversing with a few of the players. I ended up winning the event. I am certainly not saying that if you buy an iPod, you will focus better than ever and win the next tournament you play in. I am just saying that it has helped me tremendously.

Many professional Poker players have an iPod. In fact, one question that i always hear from these people is “What’s on your iPod?”

I have about 1300 songs in my library, but only listed 200 of my most played songs below. There are some artists that I omitted from the list because there are numerous songs of theirs that I enjoy. Those artists are Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Sade, Bob Marley, Christina Aguilera, Enya, Gypsy Kings, John Mayer, Oingo Boingo, Keith Washington, Madonna, Luther Vandross, N.W.A., and Public Enemy. My top twenty songs to listen to while playing poker (they get me really pumped up) are listed first and they have a * in front of the title. My favorite two have four stars.

Funny side note: If I ever sang out loud to my top twenty songs while playing a tournament, I would get at least one time out for using the f-bomb. If I ever get that penalty, I will pull this post down and write a new one titled: “Why you should not listen to your iPod while playing Poker“

Actually, one of the things i used to bring when iPod was not yet invented was my old school discman, imagine how hassle it is to bring mega loads of CDs in your bag and change CD from time to time? Good thing the best minds invented this gadget. I love it definitely, may be more than sex. Laugh out loud!

Poker Weekend

Well I had an interesting and hot weekend from a Poker perspective to say the least. There were some really big special tournaments this weekend so I played a fair bit.

On Saturday there was the sickest tournament ever, the Pacific $1000 buy-in $3 Million guaranteed. It got 2200ish runners meaning around $800K was donated to the prize pool by the site. The payout structure was really top heavy to try to attract players: 1st = $1 million, 2nd = $400K, and then more gradual from there. Also, basically everyone on Pacific is terribad so it’s really awesome. Sadly it wasn’t my time as I held on for a while on the short stack before losing AA to JJ around 5 hours in but still short of the money. I also busted everything else I played including the Poker Room/Mansion grand which is also awesome, and I was even down slightly at my 10/20 and 25/50 cash games after a decent number of hands. Yup, it was time to tilt, and as people who have been reading this blog for a while will know, that usually means shortstacking high stakes Pot Limit Omaha Following the standard “move up to get even” theory of tilted shot-taking I sat at 200/400 PLO with my usual minimum $8K buy-in. Finally luck was on my side for once that day and I quickly doubled up. Success! Out of the hole and showing a small profit for the day, time to quit and go out for the night right? You must not be very good at tilted shot-taking.

You see now I’m freerolling on my next $8K buy-in! And look how easy it was to randomly win that coinflip and make a bunch of money, surely I can just do that again no problem. So I bought into the other table and, sure enough, within a few hands I had doubled my buy-in again. Easy game, I thought, but now I couldn’t sit back in for 30 minutes anyways so I quit and went to dinner. As it turned out not much was going on that night so I stayed home. When I got back I noticed 3 200/400 PLO tables going. Well, gotta play the rush right? In quick succession I won big pots on all 3 tables and quit for good this time. In total I played 34 hands of Omaha and made $53.5K. Here are the big pots I won, minimal comments on strategy because I probably still suck at Omaha.

MSampoerna is a billionaire that owns Mansion among other companies, and he had just taken a very bad beat on the previous hand so I figured he was just trying to tilt the rest off in this hand. As it turned out I looked it up and I had 35.8% equity all-in 3 ways preflop, and I outskilled them on the river card. Sunday went similarly, I took some rough beats in the 3 tournaments I got deep in and busted everything, then played a bunch of PLO to try to get even. This time I swung up and down all over the place but luckily I came out ahead ~$10K in the end to put the day in the black. The PLO games seem really good right now, I imagine a good player with a sufficient bankroll could make a lot of money as there seemed to always be one or two players that were pretty weak. I guess I’ll keep taking shots at them buying in for the minimum when they look good and see how things go. Anyways I’m back to Phil. Peace.

Oh yea, i just recently stumbled upon this Poker website who offer the best Poker Reviews and Poker News so far. I’m recommending this site just in case you are bored with other nonsense Poker Reviews site.

JOIN PPA

What is PPA? PPA stands for Poker Players Alliance, a non profit organization dedicated in promoting Poker and defending the rights of Poker players in all form.

Its mission is to establish laws which will secure offline and Online Poker players. It also aims to provide Poker players a safe place where they can conduct meetings and possible game sessions.

Their membership consists of Poker enthusiasts from all parts of United States of America who make it a point to gather so they can form a collective voice that will represent their stand on issues concerning the legality of engaging in any Poker activity.

According to their website, the growth of Poker industry faces a threat that is so real it is being felt by any Poker player participating in any major or minor Poker related events or matches.

Numerous states and local governments are using their political power or influences to impede abilities of Poker players to play online, at home, in bars, in casinos, or in taverns. In some cases, these politicians also forbid playing Poker for charitable causes.

Just recently, federal laws are targeting to ban interactive Poker. Congress have already passed legislative orders that will make playing Poker illegal, whether you play at home or in the casinos.

According to them, this misguided law can still be tailored to work for both concerned parties- something the PPA is working on right now to clarify the legal status of Poker and regulated online Poker in the U.S.

Committed to defending the rights of each Poker player and on behalf of the members, they promote and protect Poker through advocacy work in Washinton D.C., and through out the nation.

PPA said that they will work with keylawmakers to ensure a thoughtful and productive dialogue that represents everyone who enjoys and wants to protect the game.

Poker Players Alliance’s most powerful resource is its membership base, the players. Through their Web site, and through direct contact with their members, the Poker Players Alliance is empowering Poker players and enthusiasts to deliver positive messages about the game and why it should be protected to federal, state, and local elected representatives.

If you join PPA, you will be able to enjoy the following privileges: alerts on local, state, and federal Poker legislation access tools to contact your Members of Congress and State Officials, ability to participate in the PPA forums and post comments, free newsletter from Daniel Negreanu, and the ability to manage your PPA account information.

Poker For Starters – Don’t be dumb, read this

Online Poker is different from table Poker and requires a different strategy. If you think you can get away with the same resources, then you are dumb! Wanna be wiser? Well read Online Poker Room Reviews so you won’t be clueless in what I am talking about.

The number of players playing Poker online constantly grows, as does the number of cardrooms. But strategy for online poker is still only in its adolescence. This Guide is geared both for players who have never played a hand online as well as those with experience who want to learn to play better – to win, or win more. Experienced users can skip some of the basics, but even in discussions of the basics I hope experienced users find some valuable ideas. Also, many of the linked pages below offer other information that should contribute to helping you win.

Since little has been written specifically on how to beat online games, why am I? Why give away “secrets”? First, I want to encourage more and more people to enjoy online poker in all its forms. Some new players, too far away or too intimidated to walk into a conventional cardroom, will be glad to start out in a relatively unthreat ning online environment. Online free games represent the best opportunity ever for new players to learn the game. Many of these players will naturally go on to also play in casinos, so this Guide should benefit brick & mortar clubs as well as online card rooms.

Online card rooms differ in small ways, but are similar in big ways. Players should easily be able to recognize small differences between the sites when they encounter them, so almost all the concepts apply to any poker room

The first thing to understand is that online poker is not the same as brick & mortar casino Poker Room (hereafter I’ll call this “casino poker”). They are different games. I’m not saying one is better than the other, or necessarily more or less profitable. They are just different in fundamental ways. Many of the abilities needed to win in casino poker of course also exist in online poker. You still need good starting cards… you still shouldn’t tilt… you still shouldn’t play at a level you can’t afford, and so on. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel on that stuff. Signing Up Joining an online site is simple. You use an online payment service like Neteller (see below) or give them your credit card to buy chips just like you would buy a book at Amazon or a plane ticket at United Airlines. You don’t even have to do that at first. You can play free games without giving any credit card information. You should play the free games for at least an hour or so to get the hang of how fast the action goes, what buttons to click, what happens when you click a button that you aren’t sure what it does, all the bells and whistles of how the site works. The free games have little value in learning to play to win though. They are excellent for a total novice, offering newbies a way to practice calculating basic odds on the fly and discovering the relative strengths of hands, but you still should get off free games as soon as you can. Even playing the .5/.10 games will offer you far more useful learning opportunities than the free games.

Give thought to your login name. Some people want to be distinctive, memorable. Others want to be as anonymous as possible. Your screen name is the first bit of “table image” you present to the other players. Choose one that presents the personality you want to convey to your opponents. Building an Online Poker Bankroll The first enormous difference you confront between playing online poker online and in a casino is when you go to buy chips. Card rooms generally limit how much you can deposit each day. Winning ring game in online poker is all about putting in hours. If all games are about equal, and you always play the same winning way, the more you play, the more you make. So, putting yourself out of action by losing your bankroll is a critical mistake.

In casino online poker, you can reach into your pocket and grab more cash (for good or ill). Not so online. The first thing you need to do is build an online bankroll. No matter what you are properly bankrolled to play in a casino, when you first join you have to be sure you don’t play over the head of your online bankroll, or you might put yourself out of action temporarily, until you can get more cash online. Basically, you can’t play correctly online until you have accumulated a correct bankroll.

A quicker way to build you bankroll at most Online Poker Rooms is to transfer funds from an existing player.

The online cardrooms have their reasons for limiting buy-ins, from protecting players from blowing their brains out in one session to not wanting to deal with substantial contested credit card charges. While these are legitimate concerns on the cardrooms’ part, restricted buy-ins are an artificial obstacle to winning that have to be overcome by new players. After establishing a record of play over a period of time, players can Email customer support for an increase in the different bankroll restrictions.

The current best deposit and withdrawal choice available for non-US players is through Neteller. Its website details convenient ways to get paid, including direct deposit into your checking account. Even though it might seem complicated at first, Neteller is an easy way to promptly and securely move money around online, and into your pocket.

This is not the only strategies or tips you should know in dealing with Online Poker. You will not learn all the strategies by heart in just one shot. It’s important that you first study this by heart so you won’t have a hard time understanding my next post.

Poker High

Did this ever happen to you when you were sitting Poker table or anywhere else and think to yourself “Why the hell are we here?” i don’t know if its just me but i think about this all the time and everytime i think about it i usually come up with the same answer.

To be the person you want to be…

Its as simple as that…we have the freedom to choose the person we want to become. I’m not saying that you should choose to be like someone else, but rather to choose the best version of yourself. If you don’t like who you’ve become or the way you see the world, just realize you have the power to change into someone better. I’ve read some of the other blogs an a lot of posts are about trying to be healthy..this is just an example of what i’m talking about. When you realize you dont like what you’ve become, do yourself a favor and do something about it. If you dont, you’re throwing your life away sir. The goal of your life should be to be the person you really really really want to be. And you do this thru the actions you make, the way you interact with people, and the decisions you make…and try to follow this simlpe rule in making decisions..whenever you make a decision just ask yourself….

Is this who i want to be….?

Deciding whether to go to the gym:

“do i want to be someone who lives healthy life?” Yes sir.

Deciding whether to cheat on your girlfriend:

“do i want to be someone who cheats?” Nope

Deciding whether to approach a hot girl in a bar:

“do i want to be a player or a guy the watching from the sidelines?” Lets play sir

Deciding what to do when you flop the nuts:

“do i want to be someone who knows how to milk a pot?” yes sir, check..

Deciding whether to smoke some bud:

“do i want to be someone who uses a natural herb to get high and relax…a high that makes food taste better…that makes things funnier…that has no bad long term side effects (according to an article in business week magazine)…that makes me play Poker better…that makes me sleep better and many more…?” yes sir, may i have a blunt please…hahaha

Smokes a regular sized joint rolled with strawberry papers…

Well anyways, ive pretty much lost track of what this post is about…all i know is, if youre reading this post here’s the best advice i can give you..Live your dream, dont waste your life letting life push you around…push back and live the life you want…dont just get a desk job cuz its what everyone does and it pays good…get a job that you love…if you have to get a desk job, dont settle fot that your whole life, try to make your own business or something…live the dream or die trying people.

And one more thing..be proud of the Philippines please, Pinoy’s kick ass and one day they will rule the world…think about it, we’ve got pinoys everywhere in the world…like spies. hahaha One day we’ll get our act together here in our home country..we can do it people. Lets start by representing in the Poker world.

Poker Views of A Soon to be President

Months ago, a man wrote to the presidential campaigns of Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Dennis Kucinich, Fred Thompson and Ron Paul to find out about their views on Poker Specifically, he wanted to know whether they play poker and how they feel about the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) preventing banks and other financial institutions from allowing people to use funds to pay for online gambling. So far he had received emails from the campaign teams of Clinton, Obama, Edwards and Huckabee, but haven’t learned anything about their views on his questions. What did he learn? Read on.

According to him, here’s what Clinton’s team had to say:

Thank you for your message. I have received thousands of emails from people all over the country. Your comments are very important to me and I am excited that so many people are joining our conversation about how to change the direction of the country. Unfortunately, due to the high volume of comments, I am unable to respond to each email individually.for. Sorry, Hillary, you lost my vote.

Here’s what the Obama team had to say:

Thank you for contacting Obama for America. The volume of messages we’re receiving has gone up since Barack’s victory in Iowa. While we cannot respond individually to over a thousand messages per day, the level of interest and thoughtfulness of the comments reflected in these communications are very gratifying. Your thoughts on our campaign and America’s future are greatly appreciated.

I guess his thoughts together with the many is not greatly appreciated enough. Is the suggestion that if Barack had lost Iowa he might have received an answer to the questions? Give me a break. Sorry, Barack, but your campaign team has let you down. Perhaps they’re not getting paid enough.

It’s completely pointless why they have a section of their website for questions if they have no intention of answering them. Duh. Politicians are so full of shitty promises.

The Edwards team didn’t answer his questions nor did they explain why they couldn’t answer them. Rather they keep sending him Edwards propaganda. He said he kept on replying to these spam emails, asking for the answers to my questions. But, guess what? No answer. Surprise, surprise, surprise. He’s beginning to think that there may be no human life on their end of this line of communication.

The Huckabee team wrote that they would make “every effort to respond to specific policy questions not addressed on [their] website in a timely manner.” They have kept hope alive.

Do people expect to ever learn anything about these politicians poker positions from their campaign teams? I am pretty sure he is not betting on it.

If as early as campaigns, soon to be presidents do not listen to what people have to say then what does a democratic society means? I am pretty sure these days that word is equivalent to lie.

Patience is the Secret Key

If you think you are too impatient and can get easily hot minded then, i’m telling you Poker is not for you, unless you change your ways.

Poker is considered as the perfect mix of several mental and personal skills. This game is, in many ways, a reflection of our world because when you play you require discipline, aggression, patience to wait for the right opportunity and to use a bluff at the right time. These Poker skills are good life skills too. Patience like discipline is the most important Poker virtue.

If you are not disciplined or show patience when playing at a Poker table, you have strong chances of losing a lot of money. Being impatient means you can never become a winning Poker be a good player in the long run. Even if you are able to manage some profit, you will not win the amount you could have. You can be a good Poker player only if you master the psychological aspect of this game. If your thought process is not under control, you can never win no matter what Poker strategies you apply.

The starting of hands is a major excitement for many Poker players. Out of excitement and expectation of making a good profit they take chances and attempt hands that they know they should not. This is a clear indication of lack of patience and self control. This does not mean that other players can easily eliminate playing wrong hands, but it is essential to keep on trying so that the possibilities of something like this happening could be minimized.

If you find yourself in a Poker rut, you will need to be patient in order to control every aspect of the game. The most important thing you need to do at the Poker table is to make the right decisions. There are chances that most of your online Online Poker opponents will not be as disciplined and patient as you. As a result they could end up drawing out on you, with hands that they should not be with in the game. This is something that cannot be controlled and is a part of the game. You cannot change every move you make, but the draws made by your opponents can certainly be minimized by making them pay. Having discipline in Poker means slow playing your hands when obvious draws are there and not being greedy.

Some Poker tournaments are fast while some are slow. The strategies for increasing your winning chances and edge in a poker tournament can get affected by small differences in the speed of a tournament. If a Poker game allows a lot of flexibility and patience to the players in choosing which pots they want to enter and how they would like to play their hands, the players can also determine the winners and the profit made by them over time. The “patience factor” in a Poker tournament is merely a mathematical measure of its speed. On the basis of the number of starting chips and blind structures in a Poker tournament, it becomes easy to calculate how fast players should increase the chip stack to survive.