Poker Oasis

Pokerstars Continues to Appreciate the Poker Blogger!!

2008-12-10T08:46:00.000-08:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 423082

Pokerstars is doing an interesting Series for Bloggers Worldwide and I hope to see several of our fellow blogging community at the tables starting December 15th for some exciting poker and camaraderie around the events. You can win seats at their reknowned Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) and other major WPT events and prizes. Sign up today!!

Poker in The Woods

2008-12-10T08:28:00.001-08:00

I had quite a session at Foxwoods - I got a room offer for 40 points and couldnt turn it down - a very satisfying run of cards and good reads, where I did not lose a single confrontation - won several buyins but never got all my chips in the middle (well I tried once but got called for a string bet after a brutal river on a guy).

I sat down at a $1/$2 No Limit table - a table full of regulars with very consistent play. Very solid regulars, not usually the kind of game I like to play. Where I number myself as maybe the 5th or 6th best player at the table and usually will jet after a couple of orbits.

But here's how they went.

1st hand - Limp with 5 7 s after 2 callers. Call from Big Blind. Flop is 6 4 2 and a 2/3 flop bet by my neighbor is easily called by me and also the BB. A very nice 3 of diamonds hits the flop and my neighbor tanks and raises pot. I raise to $100 and get a caller and a call from him. I have a flush diamond draw and nut straight. Blank river and turns out I chop with the BB who has 5 7 clubs (semi-win)

2nd hand - about 5 hands later- 7 9 s, and I again limp and hit a 6 8 Q flop. Called a 3/4 pot bet with one other caller. 5 hits the board and I raise pot $40. Called by the same BB guy. Yep, another chop and I again had a flush redraw (semi win)

About 5 minutes later, I get KK UTG and I raise 6x ($12) - sort of the standard "I got something" raise. I get 4 callers. Flop is K J 6. I check on a slow play and the MP position puts in $35, another caller and I call as well. A blank hits, I bet $60. and I get 2 callers. Q hits River, I decide to check, see what the action is. MP checks, Button bets $120. Didn't make sense, so I call (MP folds - later says he had K J!!). The other guy missed his draw and was positioning. Win $560 pot.

I then hit a set of 4's and slow played a nice $350 pot against a top pair, top kicker and a gut shot draw, and an AA over JJ cutoff 10x raise and I repop to $40. Low flop, I bet $75 and he calls and on a Q, I bet $100 and he tanks. Finally folds after figuring my hand?? Guy seemed a very solid player who ran into hand after hand and lost about $600 in an hour and a half.

Very solid session and I am happy with the results.

All I Want For Christmas is a Two Out Flop

2008-12-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

Yes, I can actually hear Alvin and the Chipmunks singing this one, ringing in my ears about 4AM on most mornings, as I'm attempting to build my bankroll one small pot at a time...

The fates have not been kind to the author in the last 60 days as I've dropped $2,500 + at the online tables, getting killed in 6 hand $5/$10 Limit and Pot Limit Omaha ($1/2) games on Full Tilt.

My winning style is a tight aggressive style of play, where I am disciplined, wait for appropriate starting hand. Get the right price or move on to the next one.

Lately, it's been the chip bleeding, weak passive calling station that has emerged in me - Limp- Raise - Call - Check - Call, Check - Call - yadda yadda yadda

Improving Results - Concentration and Stamina

2008-07-07T14:12:00.001-07:00

Concentration and stamina are 2 of the deciding factors we see in who maintains winning percentages over the long haul vs. those that don't. The old Power Bar "Don't Bonk" slogan comes to mind, and this is especially true in the poker world.

Clearly, abstaining from alcohol during and prior to play, getting plenty of sleep and eating a vegetable and fiber rich diet are the obvious good things you can do.

Moreover, others are turning to natural stimulants or anti-oxidants. I personally have tried the FRS Energy drink and unlike Red Bull, Monster or Amp, this is actually waaaaay better for you, eliminating toxins from your body while improving your concentration and performance dramatically. Lance Armstrong does it and it can't be wrong. Learn more on the following page...

Call Me Ishmael

2007-10-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a dark several weeks in my poker world, and I have to admit I am playing very poorly. Doing all the wrong things. Calling when I should be folding. Calling when I should be raising. Calling down suspected bluffs. Raising weak hands when down money. I have gone away from my solid fundamental style to playing the worst kind of tight weak poker, while donking away several buyins on FTP.

The light has come a bit in forcing myself to play on my paltry left over accounts and doing micro STT and SNG's and kind of recapturing my play and regaining confidence.

Strongly suggest this strategy of playing $10 and under SNG's and STT's if you are having problems with your game.

Until next time..

Even Steven...

2006-05-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 7913655

I was thinking about the old Seinfeld episode where Jerry discusses his life, of always ending up even. "I lost 20 bucks and I find 20 on the street, I lost a gig and I get another one paying exact same money, play poker and every time, just end up about Even" ...

It has begun to ring true, most especially in my online play and I'm starting to analyze why and it is the most fundamental of problems, namely:

I loose call with inferior hands when there is a strong probability I'm beaten - usually in NLHE games, a set over my top pair or better draws vs. mid pair, etc. - and I underbet my winning hands...

No big mystery there. This is the battle cry of the middling player, who knows this already. So, why do we continue to do it?

It's particularly a bad play in No Limit, but equally bad in Limit to give back your winnings or chase a bad session calling down with a less than premium hand; and even more so, not jamming the premium or ultra winners or even superior draws to compensate for the suckouts and near misses.

It's something I am focusing on in my online play and I would strongly suggest if you are falling into the Even Steven (read: NON PROFITABLE) play, you do the same.

Until next time,

P.O.

2006-05-28T00:16:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

Losing my Addiction?

2006-05-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

A long and arduous one, this poker journey. My addiction has taken me to far flung places I never would have thought of visiting. I've chased home and card room games in Indiana, California and a really scary one with a very large Indian guy (think the Hikawi's in F-Troop) barring the door in Northern Ontario just north of Toronto. I've played in card rooms all over the place, with a personal favorite in Montana at a bar with elk grazing out the back window just south of Big Sky. I've pulled off major highways, blowing off meetings, so I can get to a Wi-Fi Hot Spot in the parking lot of a Best Western or in the lobby of a Marriott under the wary eye of the manager, to play in a satellite or big MTT.

It's a grand social experiment, and like many, as you are investigating the people who play this game, it turns introspective when you realize the really twisted, dysfunctional one may be Y-O-U.

But then, you get final table in a big MTT at the casino and the doubts and misgivings give way to elation and feelings of mastery.

And, of course this is short lived as you get stuck and steamed and old lady TILT hits you upside the head and off you go.

A Few of my favorite things

2005-09-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 7913655

The sheer variety of online poker sites all competing for the hard earned poker player dollar has created a virtual smorgasbord of offerings, enticements and bonus opportunities for the consumer.

In short, there's a lot out there for the taking, which I KNOW goes without saying.

Here are in no order of preference are some of my "favorite things" as the song says:

1. Party Poker STEP Tournaments. These were basically invented by Party and enable someone to get started for $11 and work your way up to $5,000 by winning steps. A great idea, a lot of fun and not tough on the pocketbook.

2. PokerStars ReBuy tourneys. Again creates larger prize pools by bringing ReBuys to the equation.

3. Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 and up NL Ring Games - are great.

4. Eurobet and other "Skin" programs allow liberal sign ups with rakeback bonuses much greater than the "freebies" you get on the actual site. Email me for more details.

5. JetSet Poker Bounty program. Puts bounties on certain players in tournaments and you get the $$ regardless of your win.

6. Satellites at Party Poker and PokerStars to live tournaments. These 2 sites lead the world in bringing these to the poker playing public. Check em out.

Over and out,

P.O.

2005-09-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 7913655

Lunatics, Misfits and Mental Defectives..

2005-09-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

(Quite) a few years ago, on the local WBCN radio station at 5PM every day they used to have a 15 minute comedy show (can't remember the name) ... but anyway, it always started out with the above intro...

Which seems a perfect lead in to my now weekly early AM pilgrimage to Foxwoods to play in the 8AM tourney and then try to qualify for the WPT event in October. (And in between, I try to cover my entries playing $5/10 w KILL, $10/20 and $1/2- $2/4NL usually with success... better in the limit games than the NL for some reason)..

Foxwoods is a great poker room, and the daily characters that play there make it even moreso.

Anyway, played in the 8AM tourney and it was sloooow moving and nooooooo cards for yours truly. Even when I raised late position, invariably a strong hand in blind or on button. Saw a very bad beat right as our first table broke at 8:35AM, 2 players all in on a 2 spade flop and the classic Ac, Ad vs. Ks, Kd. Of course the Kings hit runner runner and caught the flush. Luckily that AA guy wasnt headed to my table, he was STEAMIN'.

Moved to 2 tables, I was treading along OK --- I missed a chance to play A 10 from mid position, a big raise from what turned out to be 2 2 and then a call from blinds with a K 3 hearts. Flop was 10 8 4 (1 heart) and then turned a 6 and then a 10 on river (DOHHH!!!). Very weak non play, resolve to play those from now on especially as I was short stacked (1400 chips at 1 hour in - average 2600 or so). Two hands later, I see an A 2 suited and decide to go all in under the gun. Blind thinks and has played a lot of wacky hands and calls K 4 s. We're heads up and I think I'm making it, and get spiked by a K on river. All done for the kid.

I jump in to a $5-10 game which was very amusing. Caught some decent cards, but the table was tight. I got nicked with second pair a lot, I tend not to believe when the same guy is in pots and is representing top pair heads up.

Guy to my left was a real cynical, but funny sort of sarcastic guy who hates Bush, kids, and wiseass dealers not necessarily in that order. He was a very good player and I watched him work his stack up from $200 to $550 quickly (not too much of it from me). The games at Foxwoods are pretty good, but I'm suspicious of "all the buddies" and making sure I'm not someone's fish dinner. I tend not to play more than a couple hours at a time and try to win 4-5 BB per hour.

When I was up a $100 or so, I decided to play an Act 1 to the WPT tourney, and that's where things got interesting. A good table, not too many people knowing each other (which again rouses my suspicion), couple loose aggressive, couple calling stations, 1 very tight player in shades wearing a tennis tourney tee shirt with his old man (probably the old tennis father coach thing going on) barking his ear off. In short a good match.

I work up a decent stack, getting a call with my KK and busting out a J 9 on a J 10 4 flop and no help turn or river.

For once, lady luck smiled on me, as I played really stupidly late.

In one, I raised 600 (blinds $100 - $200) with 1 caller on 10-10. I got a caller and subsequent all in on a J 8 6 flop, I had him covered and called and ran into K K, of course. 8 on the turn no help, but... a 10 on the river!! Guy was very classy about it, in retrospect a very risky and poor play even late position and to call the all in from an unknown player was not sound.

About 10 hands later, I raise in late position with A K s and get an all in call from a limper in early position. This should have set red flags all over the place, but I was undaunted. Guy flips over KK and I am waaay behind. Flop is garbage but with a spade (yay!). Guy catches a Queen (spades) for his set, and of course spade the river. Guy is out. Hey, I'm thinking, now you guys know how *I* feel...

With chip lead, I'm able to finish and I even take out the 3rd place finisher who moves in with K Q on my A 6 and pairs the flop, but I make a garbage straight on the river... HAHA... MY Day!!!!

Ups and Downs

2005-05-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

The hardest thing about playing online IMHO is (besides having to answer the door in your underwear to get a UPS shipment rather than fold a hand) having to deal with the sustained "bad" streaks, when you're getting bad cards and cant do anything about it.

I think anyone can relate to this phenomenon when the deck consistently runs cold over several sessions and what do you do about it. It really comes down to 3 options:

1) Quit playing for awhile (yeah right)

2) Press and try to storm people off their superior hands.

3) Continue to play your game and "wait for em to come around".

4) Come up with a strategy to preserve your self in such situations.

Obviously #3 is the way you'd like to play em, but I find myself sliding into TILT mode when my top pair gets sucked out on or a superior draw is thwarted by a 4 clubs on the river.

What I've found is to retrench and move DOWN a limit category (or NL category) rather than UP. (I will say after an extended losing session, I some times move up to $15/30 from $3/6 to see if I can catch a flop after the button, but this can have some disastrous results.). The other thing I find is when I'm getting killed in the ring games is to play some low limit (increasing to higher if winning) sit and go's. It's mindless and great way to blow off some steam.

Many many times I find when I'm cold in the ring games, I'm hot in the sit and go's and vice versa. There's no rhyme or reason to this, just experience. The "trend is your friend" as they say in the investing realm.

Don't know anyone elses experience, but like to hear them.

Lately, I've found Pokerstars to be the COOLEST place to play tournaments. Just won a seat in their $500,000 guaranteed tournament and hope to play on Sunday. In addition, the rebuy feature is beyond cool. Some people will doubtless say "DUH". I also had excellent luck on the Coral Eurobet "Party Poker" skin.

Over and out for now

The Journey Begins...

2005-03-01T14:33:00.000-08:00

As a long time poker enthusiast, both online and live poker rooms, I thought I would begin a post that would both introduce the new player to the various games played online/live, as well as share knowledge with more experienced players who are interested.

Having now played at over 50 online sites and in over 100 casinos, card rooms and various gambling establishments, I will also share in my experience, the best places to play that don't rake you to death, that provide interesting and innovative game formats, and the better than average experience.

I plan to post every week at least and share experiences from tournaments, live games and online travels. Please comment as appropriate and let me know what interests.

Play smart,

P.O.