New Years Resolution

My New Years Resolution for this year involves two parts. The first part is my poker life. This year I would like to play around 8-10 MTT a week. Also I would like to learn games like Omaha and improve my 7stud play. I have read countless articles that have been intriguing me into getting into these games for different reasons. The first reason would probably be the most important. It improves my strongest game Holdem. In these other games I might noticed something I never thought to do in Holdem. I believe this was Steve Zolotow who said this.
I would like to make double what I made this year and I do not think that this is an unreasonable task because I did not play that much this last half of the year. If I could accomplish only one of these though I would like being a better overall player. Im gonna try and accomplish this but playing in at least one omaha, stud, or horse tourney a week out of those 8-10 I mentioned above.

As far as the second half of the resolution goes its pretty much been the same as the last two years. Get my life together. What I mean by this is Im not putting 100% effort into college right now. Im only cheating myself. I need to pull my grades up. They are not bad but they are n0t 3.6 either. I could improve this by not procrastinating ridiculously like I do right now. Studying for a few hours a night before the exam is not the best way to go about things and I am slowing realizing this. I also need to start doing more HW even if its not the full assignment but a few problems here and there so I can realize what I need to work on. I know if I improve on this then I should be able to pull a 3.0 next semester and my senior year as well.

I would like to say 2007 was a good year and I hope 2008 is even better. Good Luck to you all with your resolutions and your health and prosperity in 2008.

Ahh The Rush

I am in the zone right now. I was fired from my job at school before I came home for Christmas break and I think that was exactly what I needed. I have been playing MTT on AbsolutePoker and have had great success in the two weeks Ive been home. I have played around 20 tournies cashing in half of them in which I had 6 FT appearances. I now have my living expenses paid for the next two months and should be able to eat more than the dollar menu at BK, Wendys, etc..

I have noticed that I have become quite comfortable with NL Holdem now and I would more identify myself as a LAG player rather than a TAG. I have noticed that I have been able to pick up on betting patterns far more than I was in the past. Also my live game has improved considerably too because I have bettered my ability to read body language. I have made some money playing live over the break but I do not let those results get in the way of me just naturally playing better. The other night for instance I was playing in a live home game tourney. I was dealt the 64off in UTG+3. I made my standard raise of 3x the bb and had only my uncle call. (A TAG player). The flop came 974 rainbow so I threw out a bet of around half the pot. My Uncle went in the tank and I at that point I had him on an overpair but he was thinking I had flopped a set. He said after he folded that he had to lay his hand down because I flopped my set of 4s. I was chuckling in the inside as I took down the pot with bottom pair.

I busted out of this tourney on a weird hand. I was dealt AJ in UTG+2 the utg decided to limp in early position(very loose put him on a mediocre hand) and I raised 4x the bb. I had the guy to my left call and the utg call. The flop came J85 and the UTG player bet 1k I raised to 5k and the guy to my left called my 5k raise. The UTG player went allin and put me in the tank this time. After about a minute I call and the guy to my left calls. I show my tptk and the guy to my left shows his pocket 10s. What really befuddled me was the utg showed j8 for two pair. This only confused me because I had shown a few hands to set up my table image. I showed two pair twice with my premium hands. Long story short is I was the second one out of the tourney as my TPTK did not improve. I know over the longrun I would empty this guys pockets but did not really understand his call here. Then I thought about it the good old phrase DAI (Dont Assume Intelligence.) and realized that was exactly what happened to me here.

Overall I have been playing very well excluding the misstep in that last tourney I mentioned. I am very happy to be playing like this after a dismal month of November and first week of December. I hope I can continue this in the upcoming year of 2008.

What Poker Taught Me This Year

This year has done a lot for my poker game. I have realized that I have an innate ability to read body language now. I have become very good at this. The one thing that sucks is that I still do not always trust my gut instinct. I have lost out on several things other then poker because I did not act upon this feeling. This has been my only regret of the year. I feel if I can improve on this in 2008 not only will I make more money playing cards but I will also succeed outside of the felt and get the things I want out of life.

The Browns

What a win today. I thought for sure that the Browns were gonna give this one away. Jamal stepped up and had a very nice game. He was right this is his time of the year. Congrats to Braylon for tying the record for most reception TDs in a season. This guy is a stud and am looking forward to him breaking many records in the future. The offensive line is by far and away the MVP of this team and their performance this season is the reason we are 8-5. (cough 10-3 cough). The defensive line has also improved and its mostly because of the Smiths play. Robaire made some plays and the goal line stand was awesome. Our secondary is also looking really good and dont look now but we got a gem in this kid McDonald. I never doubted Savage and his talent evaluation this kid is going to be good. Sean Jones is another defensive playmaker and one of the handful of guys that Butch Davis got right. This team faces a good Bills team next week and if we pull this one out I know they make the playoffs. Couldnt be happier for Romeo I would have been upset if he lost his job because Quinn was put in the starter role and struggled.

The first

I am officially blogging now. Wow what an experience. lol. I have been meaning to make a blog for a while to share my thoughts on whats going on in the world.

The first thing that comes to mind is my Cleveland Browns. What can I say? Anyone who thinks that the Browns are a joke now. These guys are for real. The one thing I'm not sure is how can your team defense be the strength of you team since the return of the Browns and now it is our wekaness? Thats the only complaint I have. But to be honest I thought that they would be a seven win team at best this year and all of the sudden they are 7-5 with 4 games left. Finally Cleveland has something to hang its hat on. If the "D" can improve our offense can compete with anyone and we will be a force in the playoffs.


The second thing that comes to my mind is my poker endeavors as of late. I have no idea how Ive mad what Ive made this year playing like I am. I am paying off hands I know I am beat and generally have been ignoring my reads all together. I bet when I should fold and fold when I should raise. I know that I can correct these things but it seems as if I do not want to. I cannot believe that we barely play poker here anymore either. I was playing 3 nights a week last year and now I do not know if I have played 10 times this year. Luckily for me I still have online poker to fall back on.

The other thing that was cracking me up was the fact that Colbert was running for president. I loved this. I feel bad for those who do not watch the show and think that this was hoax. The whole purpose of his show is to get people who do not care about politics to start caring. I know it seems like a hoax but it was definitely for a purpose. I wish that he could have ran but he did not fill out the paperwork in time.
As far as next years presidential election I am finding no strong candidates with whom I feel comfortable yet. Hopefully as the time gets closer and more and more debates are televised a better feel for who I like will emerege.

This was the first of many blogs I hope to post and feel free to comment on them.