Finally!

Well, it took a year (almost to the day), but my first poker goal has been achieved. My bankroll has at last reached $5000. It took 3 jobs and a lot of small home game wins to get here, but it's done. Ironically, the richest prize in poker history will be given away today at the WSOP. The Big One for 1 Drop, a 1 million dollar buy-in tourney, concludes today with the winner getting 18.3 million. 

I see building a bankroll from scratch much like building a car. My car cost $5000 to build, but now it needs some gas or it just sits in my garage and goes nowhere. Just like in real life, fuel is expensive. The maximum I will put on a tournament with a bankroll this size is $100 (2 percent). Cash game max is $250 (5 percent). Sit-N-Go max is $160-$170 (30 buy-ins). So, to answer the many "what now" questions I will inevitably face from my friends and family: it's time to make some gas money so I can take this car for a spin!

Frustrated Incorporated

I arrived at Berkshire Hills Country Club on Sunday ready to play some A-game poker. It was Rock's Relay For Life poker tournament benefiting the American Cancer Society. The buy-in was $110. There were 62 entries and 8 players were slated to make the money. 

My first table was pretty stingy. There wasn't a lot of talking (except for the guy sitting on my immediate left) between the players. A couple of things kinda bugged me at this tournament. 1. There was no TV! The room was nice, but the walls were bare. I actually commented on this fact only to find that the owner of the club was sitting directly to my right. Insert foot in mouth. Glad I didn't comment on the sub par buffet! 2. We had to deal our own table due to a lack of volunteers. This was fairly disappointing considering it was a $110 buy-in. If it was $75 or less I probably wouldn't have cared, but when you're paying that kind of money, it's nice to have a competent dealer. Plus it slowed the game down I thought. The blind levels, after all, were only 20 minutes in length. The first hour was fairly uneventful. I won two pots. One was with KK pre-flop. the other was with JJ on the river. We started with 12,000 in chips and I was at 18K at the first break.

The 2nd hour I was card dead and dropped down to 11,500. I don't think I took a single pot. I figured I'd take the chip and a chair approach and grind it out. 

The 3rd hour I got hot. First I more than doubled up with AA against AK. I took another hand with AK in the big blind. I went all-in pre-flop and got a couple of limpers to fold. Then with about 15 players left I got QQ under the gun and it held against AQ. This put me at about 60K or so with the blinds at 2000/4000. Then, my inevitable coolers followed. With just 13 players left at a 7-handed table, and 2nd to act, I got AJ offsuit and popped it to 25K. It folded around to the big blind who went all-in. It was just 14K more for me to call so I did. He turned over 88. Sure enough, the magic 8 hit the flop and I was down to about 25K. A few hands later with just 10 players left, I picked up KJ suited on the button. It folded around and I went all-in. I was immediately called by the big blind who turned over AJ suited. An ace hit the flop and I was out on the bubble (It turns out 9th place got their money back. All 9 players volunteered to give up $10 of their winnings to the 9th place finisher).

It's a rite of passage as a poker player to finish on the bubble. Everyone who plays tourneys on a regular basis has had it happen to them. I'm no different. I will tell you that it sucks. There's no other way around it. It was particularly frustrating for me because I haven't cashed in a non-home-game tournament in 4 years. I guess you could say "I'm due". Oh well, it's on to the next one. 

The Home Game Wrap-Up

This week's game drew 6 players and my place was the venue. We played a mix of NLHE (No-Limit Hold Em) and PLO (Pot-Limit Omaha). Almost all of my $65 winnings came on one Omaha hand where I flopped a full house. I checked the flop and allowed two other players to catch up with lower boats of their own. That hand ended up being worth close to $100. I love Omaha. The game has been kinda thin lately as it's becoming difficult to get more than 6 players a week. I'm working the next 2 Thursdays too. At least I have a $110 tournament to play in on Sunday, May 20th. It's Rock's Relay For Life benefiting The American Cancer Society, and is put on by Berkshire Poker. It's usually the biggest one of the year and totally worth playing in. Should be a fun event. I'll be posting my results here and on Twitter so stay tuned!

A Night In The ER

This week was a tough one for me. I got very sick for a couple of days and thought I had the flu. After 3 days of feeling like shit I noticed I had a giant red mark on my left ribcage that looked like some sort of bite. It was the size of my fist. Apparently the problem was a skin and tissue infection called cellulitis. I went to the emergency room where they hooked me up to an IV and did some blood work. If not treated, cellulitis can spread and eventually lead to death. It's good that I went to the hospital when I did. The infection hadn't reached my blood stream, and I was given antibiotics to treat it.

In other news, there is no home game this week due to a lack of available players. Last week I was up a measly $18, but I'm up almost $400 overall. The online bankroll is being rebuilt and sits at $75, while the live bankroll is at almost $3300. Hopefully there will be a game next week and I'll have something interesting to post. Until then...

A Letter For You

Dear Constant Reader,

   My apologies for not having written much recently. Much has been going on in my life outside of the blogosphere, and I've just now found the right moment to sit down and write something. I was on the Cape April 6th-8th and celebrated my birthday on April 9th. Cape Cod was fun, and I got to meet my girlfriend's parents, brother and sister, and 14 year-old neice. They were very friendly and welcoming, even surprising me with a birthday cake. It was a great weekend. The casino trip I had planned for April 9th was cancelled due to my friend's daughter not feeling well. Not too disappointing though because it's looking like April will be a profitable month due to how much I've worked. First time that's happened in years. The online bankroll has disappeared due to some bad decisions on my part (what is it about April 15th???), but I'm holding my head high. I've done it once and I can do it again. The question is: do I want to? The online poker landscape is still unclear, and there is no guarantee my success will find its way to my bank account. If anything, online is just to keep my game sharp. I'm very close to having enough loot saved to play in a local home cash game on Monday nights where the buy-in is $200 to start. Success there could elevate me somewhat. We'll see. The Thursday night game is on at my place for this week and I haven't played in a couple of weeks. Gettin' a little itchy.

   In other news, my NBA fantasy team finished 4th out of 12. I won my first round playoff, but due to Kobe's injury and other injuries, I was defeated in the 2nd Round 5-4. The final two teams had the first two picks in the draft. Go figure. The team that picked 1st won. The fantasy MLB team currently resides in 1st place after a 2-0 start. Long way to go though.

   Well, that's it for now. Work should be slowing down a little next week, and I'm really looking forward to some chill time. I'll be live tweeting from the game on Thursday, and should be posting shortly after. Until then...

The Home Game Wrap-Up

   9 players once again this week, and the normal cash game stakes of .25/.50. I started off well as my pocket 7's rivered a boat against the unpredictable Joe Haugh. I raised pre-flop and bet every street. Joe had hit top pair on the flop, but he check-called every bet. Had he made a move before the river I would have been out of the hand. I was fortunate to catch that river 7, but never would have gotten there if I hadn't made up my mind to bet out till the end. That hand seemed to start a trend as it seemed every pot after that was $20 or more. There was even a $120 hand as Todd Gerssler tripled up through two players who had the same hand. Matt Sinico was the big winner however with a $150 profit on the night. I was up $61, putting me at $322 overall. The next two weeks, I'll be on hiatus as work comes calling once again. I do have a Mohegan Sun trip planned for my birthday on Monday, April 9th so stay tuned.

2012 Fantasy Baseball Draft Results...

   One of my favorite days of the year is the day I get to draft my fantasy baseball team. Last year I was champion of The New England League for the first time in my storied career as a fantasy manager. This year proves to be more difficult as the total number of teams goes from 10 to 12. A couple of managers have kids old enough to manage their own teams. That really makes it interesting. We don't bet any money or anything. Just for bragging rights. Finally, it's my year to brag.

Picking 10th out of 12 this year- Diamond in the Rough

Round 1- Robinson Cano (2B)
Round 2- Prince Fielder (1B)
Round 3- Felix Hernandez (SP)
Round 4- David Price (SP)
Round 5- Asdrubal Cabrera (SS)
Round 6- Aramis Ramirez (3B)
Round 7- Ichiro Suzuki (OF)
Round 8- Madison Bumgarner (SP)
Round 9- Jose Valverde (RP)
Round 10- Alex Avila (C)
Round 11- Cameron Maybin (OF)
Round 12- Corey Hart (OF)
Round 13- Ubaldo Jimenez (SP)
Round 14- Mark Trumbo (1B,OF)
Round 15- Carlos Marmol (RP)
Round 16- Billy Butler (1B)
Round 17- Russell Martin (C)
Round 18- Hiroki Kuroda (SP)
Round 19- Jemile Weeks (2B)
Round 20- Austin Jackson (OF)
Round 21- Scott Downs (RP)
Round 22- Alexi Ogando (SP)

   I'm happy with my draft considering I had to pick 10th. I had to break my own rule and draft a New York Yankee, but hey, I play to win baby! This lineup should hit a lot of home runs, and my starting pitching is better than last year. I guess we'll see!