Wednesday, January 31, 2007

In Auburn

I am in Auburn for a family emergency and so I will not be playing poker tonight. This week may not see any card games at all. I am not even thinking about going up to the Muckleshoot Casino to play Blackjack while I am here in Auburn. I am spending time at the hospital and with family that have flown in.

This last weekend I have been playing blackjack at home practicing the strategy to see how I play and how the different strategies I use stack up against each other. Since I always try to play on a table with more than 2 or 3 people I will set cards out for that many. I bought enough cards to have the proper amount of decks available for the table I am playing. See if this helps my blackjack playing.

I see that WPT Poker Boot Camp is coming to the Wildhorse Casino in November. I would like to attend this camp. Waiting till November is sort of a wait though. It is nice that it is coming up to this area.

Have fun and keep the cards moving.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Poker Time

I forgot to post the game on Wednesday night. I got busy the Thursday and Friday and remembered last night that I hadn't posted anything to the blog.

The night was uneventful for me. I played the 6PM Poker Tournament at Jokers Casino and we had 20 people show up. Tonight I really didn't get any hands to play. I think I must have played about 3 hands and ended up in 12th place. I don't like being blinded out and that is exactly where I was headed for the evening. I didn't have any hands that really stuck with me that I could even talk about.

I keep watching players and how they are playing. I need to start playing some hands if I have position and if I can limp in and see a flop. I know that is where the training would come in if I could try and get to one of the Poker schools. Another thing that I thought interesting as I was watching a Tournament on TV was the amount of people that were dealers and now they are poker professionals and or play a lot. The announcers were talking about the ability to watch the hands as well as watch how people played the game. Wouldn't that be a fun job to be a poker dealer. Basically don't give up your day job until you could make it in that profession.

We have joined a fitness facility in town and so I need to start exercising more to loose some weight. I lost 22 pounds last year and this year my goal is another 25. I want to get to a total of 75 pounds lost, so it will go into 2008 for me to reach my goal. I would like to pick up another night of poker and the weather is starting to look better and I know golf is right around the corner. Hopefully this will be a good year all around. Of course I can't forget about the job.

Have fun with the cards.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Weekend on the Westside

We drove over to the West side of the state on Saturday morning and the roads were not that bad. Hardly any traffic.

Then saturday evening I took off for the Muckleshoot Casino. Wow, there were so many people I could not find a parking spot anywhere. I ended up going into the parking garage and found a spot up near the top. Walking into the casino you walked into a flood of people. I went from one end of the casino looking for a table so I could sit down and play some blackjack. After my third trip to the older side I found a seat and I put myself in seat number 6. The lady in seat 7 was a little inebriated. She started talking to me right away about how the person that just left did not know how to play and she hoped I would do better. She stated she knows how to play and when to hit and when to let the dealer try to bust. Ok, I have read the books as well. I started playing and won the first three hands and I was using the new strategy of every time I win I would put another chip in and if I lost the hand I would start over with one chip. Right off the bat I was up and for most of the night I was using there money to play with. Oh yes, the guy that left and I took his seat, he came back and now was sitting in seat 5. The Lady on my left leaned over to me and informed me in a low voice that, remember the guy I was telling you about, well he is sitting next to you now so keep an eye on him. Eventually she busted out and she decided the dealer was against her and she left. Not before talking to the pit boss about playing some poker in the poker room. That was an interesting conversation as well. Basically she could play but the poker players would enjoy her presence since it would be money in the bank for them.

After that took place a new person came and sat in seat 5 and he started playing. With his date behind him asking him why he was doing what he was doing. Even to the point of looking at my cards and telling me what I should do. She bumped up against my chair a couple of times and said sorry, I am a little bit challenged to stand straight right now. I could believe that. You could tell she was a little bit inebriated as well. She ended up sitting next to me in seat 7 with her date in seat 5 and she started talking to me, telling me that she was just dating the guy next to me. That she was not married to him. She started talking to me about the cards I would play and why. I finally after 3 hours was ahead in my chips from when I started and decided to just go home. I really like to play blackjack here. I did watch 4 card poker table, but it is hard to get a seat since there are two tables and they are always full. People standing behind them waiting to get a seat. It would be nice to have a few more tables open. Even all the blackjack tables were full with people watching and waiting for seats. It was fun.

This wednesday evening I am back at the Jokers Casino playing poker. I might try the 3 card poker that evening.

Have fun.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Love my Wednesdays

I was anxious to get out and go to Jokers Casino this evening so I could play some poker. The weather here is cold, cold, cold. I got myself into the casino this evening, signed up and paid my buyin of $30. There were 24 people playing tonight. We started out with 2 tables of 10 apiece and 4 alternates. I try to get there early enough that I am not an alternate. I think it is harder to get started when you are behind when you get seated. If I am going to loose my blinds I would rather loose them myself than to get blinded because I am not playing cards.

Tonight was one of those nights when I was getting some really good cards. I must have had 3 AK's and won 2 of them and lost 1. I went all-in 3 times and won two of them and lost the last one. Of course the last one I had one $500 dollar chip and went all in with nothing other than the 72 offsuit. Can't do much with that one. The hand I played prior to that one was the one that did me in though. I had AJ and lost to A5 when the player got a 5 on the river. I was feeling good and I was not playing a bunch of hands that were junk. I opened my play a little bit tonight trying to play some new hands so I didn't seem like a very tight player. I just played hands that made since to me. I ended up placing 11 out of 24. Middle of the pack again. Missed the final table by 1 person.

This weekend I am planning to make a trip back to Auburn and I will try to play some blackjack at the Muckleshoot Casino. Hopefully I will do well. I have been wanting to try a new strategy out and see how I do. I am trying to practice here at home before I do it there.

Have fun and will write sometime this weekend.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Wednesday Night Poker

Tonight was the home game. It was a $5 buyin and 15 players started. One thing about playing home games is that people will call down to the river just to try and make a hand. It is hard to figure out what to do when you know most of the group will play on even if you raise. It is even getting more noticeable for me I need to get some type of instruction on how to play the mid hands like K6 or the Q5 and hands like that. Bluffing doesn't seem to work very well. By the end of the evening I ended up in 8th position. Middle of the field and I seem to stay in that position most often.

Jokers Casino is starting a tournament now at 9PM. You can play at 12, 3PM, 6PM and now 9PM. Wouldn't that be nice to be able to play in a few more tournaments during the week. I enjoy watching some of the better players at Jokers.

Next weekend we are planning a trip over to Auburn again and maybe a chance to play some Blackjack at Muckleshoot Casino. We will have to wait and see if everything works out for the trip.

Have fun and play hard.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Tuesday Night Poker

Since I am playing in a home game on Wednesday night I figured to keep up with the weekly game at Jokers Casino I would need to play tonight. I ended up playing with a new group of players tonight. I only new 2 faces out of the bunch. There were 14 players. That is a far cry from the 30+ I am used to playing with on Wednesday night.

I started out playing my usual. I won the second hand with a pair of Q's. No one wanted to go to the turn or the river with me. I must not have played a hand for about 30 minutes because the next time I played one of the players looked at me and said that I haven't played at all and now I raise on the flop and no one wants to go in on the pot. From that point on I played the flops and within 3 hands I was out of the tournament. The cards I was dealt were KJ, A2, and a Q10. I had good hands just didn't get the flops to really continue. Of course I didn't through the hands away like I normally would and then the players started calling my hands.

I have been continuing to read Phil Gordons little green book again on his thoughts on poker. Tomorrow night will be a home game and will hope to do better. I need to start playing more flops to see if I can get the cards to continue.

This is hard to do because when I play any card game I don't play to loose. I play to win and as I am teased at work to earn money. I carefully manage my money when I play at the casino. I do that whether I play Poker or Blackjack. I also do not play with money that will be missed if I loose. I never play with house money.

My wife and I have a mine, hers, and ours account to pay bills. When it comes to money in our separate accounts we don't have to explain where it goes to each other. I call it my allowance and it works for us. When it is gone then we have to wait till then next paycheck and get allowance again. Hence, my one night per week in playing poker at the casino. The home games don't happen often and the buyin is like $5 so it doesn't matter that much. Good practice for me though.

Have a good week and will let you know how the game goes tomorrow.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Wednesday Poker Night

I have been sick all week but I did get to play poker Wednesday night at Jokers Casino. It was the shortest tournament I played in for a while. There was close to 30 players and I went out about 21st. That is a far cry from the last 3 weeks. It was one of those tournaments that I could play nothing in my hand. Even after folding I would watch the cards come out and still would not have had anything to play all night. This of course is not whining. Just the fact that some nights are like this and I accept the fact it happens.

I have been reading Phil Gordons little green book and I like what he talks about. The mindset and how he plays the game. I am getting ready to read the Little Blue Book next. Right now my game is tight. I should probably be reading Dan Harrington's books.

Until next week have fun.