The newest addition to the family...good bye Explorer...hello Sonic Blue Focus. 

End of a long week

Finally...Friday is here...The girls are in bed, although not after some drama...Danielle had made some pictures for Jen and spilled water on them while brushing her teeth...needless to say, the ink ran and she was pretty upset about the whole thing, especially after a day of pre-school, gymnastics and no nap...one tired and upset little girl. I ended up drawing some pictures for her and that seemed to solve the problem.

Guess I can't complain too much about this week...was supposed to have been in NJ for the bulk of the week, but the trip was rescheduled, so instead got to spend time with Jen and the girls for a nice change...Jen had been scheduled off for my trip, so we actually got to see each other. The girls liked having both of us home for a change as well.

Just finished a maraton session on Party Poker to clear my $40 bonus....with my initial deposit, and $40 in bonus, I made a whopping $42 dollars over the last week. Was up about $120 until tonight...just couldn't get a run of cards going...was almost out completly and was able to catch some nice hands to get back to basically even for the week...better than loosing it all.

Looking forward to lots more poker tomorrow...10am freeroll on PokerStars for the World Amateur Poker Tour (http://www.worldamateurpokertour.com/). Great online organization for playing poker...they work with various sites (PokerStars, UltimateBet) and promote online leagues, tourneys (freerolls and cash) for the members. Cash and prizes to the winners, as well as a world ranking of all the players....I'm currently fourth overall....was second last fall, but haven't placed in a tourney in awhile...hopefully tomorrow will change my luck.

And then over to the RatPack home game in the evening...looking forward to seeing the guys again this week and hopefully winning back my money from Tuesday night.

In other good news, I've got a line on a new supplier for the PokerStones card protectors and dealer buttons business I've been trying to start...should know more on Monday.

Time to sign off now...

Mike Caro and an evening of poker

After a long day at work putting out product issues and trying to stay on top of numerous tasks and meetings, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a free poker seminar at OSU given by professional poker player and author Mike Caro "The Mad Genius of Poker". Enjoyed the seminar very much, as he is a very dynamic speaker and very entertaining to listen to....and the free hat was pretty cool as well.

Afterwards, a number of the local poker players (Go RatPack) got together for a game of $1/2 NLHE over at Smokey's house. I have to say that the 3 hours of poker was great from a camaraderie standpoint, as I had a great time...but sitting for about 3 hours catching nothing but 38os and watching the guys around me catch AA, KK, AK, etc was discouraging...my table image was so tight that the minute I put $5 in the pot, I chased everyone out and collected the blinds with A9s...Needless to say, my $40 investment soon dwindeled down to about $7 with the blinds and the end of the evening quickly approaching. I looked at 10-7 spades and decided it was the best hand I had seen and tossed my money in the pot...3 callers saw a flop of 7-Q-7 hit the board and I stayed alive with my trips and put me back in the game with about $30....unfortunately that was all of the good luck I was going to get for the evening, as I lost some cash on AhQh when I pushed the pre-flop bet to $10 and missed completly (2c-5c-7c)....post-flop bet of $5 was raised to $20 by the big stack and I folded. Down to about $14 now and push all in pre-flop with AQos, get called by two players...when the dust settles, my AQos is up against AKos and QJos with a J on the flop...I'm completly dominated in the hand and even the A on the river doesn't help and I'm busted off the table at about 11:55 last night.

Oh well...that's poker...can't win every night, especially with the hands I was trying to mess with. One guys across the table had AA at least 3 times, so I know they were in the deck.

Going to be a long day at work....lack of sleep and a busy schedule will make for a difficult day....add in a trip to the dentist this afternoon for a chipped tooth and it's going to be a lovely day.

Can someone explain this play to me?

So...I decide to work off more bonus hands on PP, drop into a table right behind the button and pay for th ebig blind on a whim....I NEVER usually do this, I wait for the BB to come to me....gut said to do it and I get AA....Happy as a clam. Did I miss play this along the way somwhere?

***** Hand History for Game 1952065829 *****$5/$10 Hold'em - Monday, April 25, 19:47:05 EDT 2005
Table Bad Beat Jackpot #1015182 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: rsjbob ( $216 )
Seat 2: shockdoc11 ( $366.84 )
Seat 4: TRUCKER9 ( $308.25 )
Seat 5: Nautilus60 ( $140 )
Seat 6: HillBillyAce ( $92.5 )
Seat 7: genkin ( $215 )
Seat 8: ElCarp ( $270.75 )
Seat 9: S_McCroskey ( $124.5 )
Seat 10: gittinit ( $163.5 )
Seat 3: RatPackMoe ( $200 )
Nautilus60 posts small blind [$2].
HillBillyAce posts big blind [$5].
RatPackMoe posts big blind [$5].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to RatPackMoe [ Ac As ]
genkin calls [$5].
ElCarp folds.
gittinit folds.
rsjbob folds.
shockdoc11 calls [$5].
RatPackMoe raises [$5].
TRUCKER9 calls [$10].
Nautilus60 folds.
HillBillyAce calls [$5].
genkin calls [$5].
shockdoc11 calls [$5].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4c, 3d, 3c ]
HillBillyAce checks.
genkin checks.
shockdoc11 checks.
RatPackMoe bets [$5].
TRUCKER9 raises [$10].
HillBillyAce calls [$10].
genkin folds.shockdoc11 folds.
RatPackMoe calls [$5].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]
HillBillyAce checks.
RatPackMoe checks.
TRUCKER9 bets [$10].
HillBillyAce calls [$10].
RatPackMoe raises [$20].
TRUCKER9 calls [$10].
HillBillyAce calls [$10].
** Dealing River ** [ 4s ]
HillBillyAce checks.
RatPackMoe bets [$10].
TRUCKER9 calls [$10].
HillBillyAce raises [$20].
RatPackMoe calls [$10].
TRUCKER9 folds.
HillBillyAce shows [ 4d, 6h ] a full house, Fours full of threes.
RatPackMoe doesn't show [ Ac, As ] two pairs, aces and fours.
HillBillyAce wins $188.5 from the main pot with a full house, Fours full of threes.

Took me about an hour just to get back to even after dropping this hand. How do you call a pre-flop raise on a $5/10 table with 46os? Just simply amazing.

Sunday night

Calling it a day....Danielle was a handful with no nap and she wore me out.....hell hath no fury than a 4 year old with no nap...Had a good day over all...friends over for chili and beer, watch a couple of movies (Rounders and The Incredibles) and then was able to play some poker after the girls went to bed....

Deposited some money into my old PartyPoker account to get the reload bonus and play in the weekly RatPack game (local Columbus gropu of poker players)...played some $2/4 for awhile to generate the raked hands needed to clear my $40 bonus....was up about $40 over the hour, but lost $30 of that in two hands thanks to some outrageous chasers catching there 4 outers on the river.....pocket AA with a A on the flop and they chase down gutshot straight to the river and catch it...amazing....So ended up making $10 and clearing about 50 hands towards my bonus (190 to go)

Switched over to the BoDog Cardplayer freeroll....$2000 up for grabs with 170 players registered...$600 to first. I end up at a table with 8 players seated, but only 4 of us playing....was able to steal a ton of blinds from the absent players to my left and catch some nice cards along the way to triple up in the first hour. At this point, I'm at 3000, guy to my right is at 2000 and a new guy sits at the table with 4000. First hand (20/40 blinds) I limp in with K-10os and the three of us see the flop....8-9-K rainbow....check to me and I raise to $100....big stack calls me and other guy folds.....J on turn leaves me with top pair and an openended straight draw....I bet $200 and the guy goes all in....I figure he's trying to buy the pot, since he had just hit the table, so I call him, he flips 8-9os for 2 pair....needless to say the river doesn't help and I'm out, just like that. Can't believe he called the pre-flop raise with 8-9os....but it was a freeroll, so what do you expect...the $600 would have been nice though.

Jen should be home from work soon and I need to clean up a couple of things in the kitchen...looking forward to this week since she doesn't have to work again until the weekend, will be nice to spend some time with her and the girls for a few days straight.

Pic of Ashley goofing around with no sunglasses. 

We did have snow in Columbus today...if it had all stuck, we would have had a mess, as it came down all day. 

Opening post

Let the blogging begin. After playing serious poker for the last year and reading many blogs and websites out there, I've decided to try my hand a blogging.

Now, by serious poker, I mean I play mostly online with some random sampling of local home games and charity events. Living in Columbus, Ohio does not lend one to be able to get to many B&M establishments easily when balancing work, family and friends. I have been to the Commerce (once) for a few hours of $1/2 play, during which I lost about half my starting $100 in the first 30 minutes getting sucked out on the river, then spending the next two hours trying to get back to even when the deck went cold on me. Haven't made it to Vegas yet, but I'm looking forward to a trip sometime this year.

LIFE.....
My wife (Jen) and I have been married for almost 8 years now...Would do it all over again without a second thought. We're blessed with two great girls (Danielle-4 and Ashley-2) that are a joy to watch grow. Going to be way smarter than their old man, that's for sure. I work a day job that pays the bills and allows Jen to spend time home with the girls during the day....Harder job than I have, that's for sure.

Danielle is a budding gymnast, so that's pretty fun to watch her learn new stuff...Cartwheels are still rough on her, but she loves the activity. Ashley will probably be the poker player, as she loves sitting with me when I play online while she is awake...Unless, of course, the Wiggles or Disney channel is on TV.

The UNIVERSE....
As for me, I'm married (Jen - since 1998) with two little girls (Danielle 4 and Ashley 2) and we're hoping for a third (and final) sometime in the next year or two. I'm a QA manager at a national health and wellness retail chain, so having all the girls in the house is a nice sounding board for new products...and they love the free stuff.

and POKER....
Finally on poker....So, I spend most of my available time sitting in front of a computer and playing on UltimateBet.com. I started on PartyPoker for awhile (until I lost my buy in and bonus) then switched over to UB, which I am happy with. Played at most sites (Poker Stars, Full Tilt, Pokertropolis), mainly just bonus whoring and such. UB has been the best to me by far...great interface, spread of games and customer support. I'll probably post a link on this site when I figure out how to do it...as I said, I play mostly on UB, and have worked up to the $5/10 limit games. I agree with the pros, in that you have to play a limit that makes it sting just a bit....and playing lower limits just frustrated me to no end, as it was next to impossible to protect big hands from getting sucked out by someone when 6-8 players take each flop. $5/10 online typically respects pre-flop raises and check-raises as solid hands, so you can play 'real' poker with bluffs, semi-bluffs, etc. Had a nice night last night on UB...clearing about $200 in 45 minutes on a nice rush of hands after being down $100 early. I play when I have the time and am in the right frame of mind to play...so not every night or anything...so the $200 profit was enough for me to get up and walk from the table pretty happy....now, I know that some would keep playing and try to maximize the run on the table....which I did after getting up about $240....paid the blinds for two rounds with crap cards....took one flop on Ad9d and saw three clubs flop....folded to the first bet....walked with my cash and was happy.

Well...that's about enough for now...girls need some breakfast while the wife sleeps in. I'll probably post this around some message boards and try and generate some feedback to keep it going.

Danielle....kitchen floor today, american Idol tomorrow 

Jen and Ashley...future movie star