My game then vs. now continued…

After badly beaten by the 2-7offsuit early position in public (read: I was hammered for birthday week, starting early, drinking often), I am back to writing poker. Today’s post will be a continuation bet post of the poker reflections post from a few days ago, where I discussed how my poker game has come along. Today I will be tying in my thoughts, my “game” and my approach today to how it was one year ago.


As mentioned, one year ago, I was donking (donk-ing, not Don King) out on the .10/.25 no limit tables. To continue with the boxing analogy, I was more Tyson-like on the tables, a brawler looking to land the “Irish Tommy Conklin” overhand right, as seen in the classic movie “The Great White Hype.” I would mindlessly wait and wait all day for “my flop” and throw the knockout punch.


Today, I am primarily a limit player, more of a boxer as opposed to a brawler. Don’t get me wrong, I still throw the overhand right (actually, I am a southpaw, but I am keeping true to both the movie and the boxing theme), however, I do not rely on delivering one successful knock out blow. I guess as a brawler ages, if he does not possess the foot skills and a fundamentally sound artillery, he is more likely to bow out earlier than if he can mix it up, stick and move. Sharky helped me to realize such a thing. I recently adjusted my game further, as I had been playing strictly shorthanded limit. I recently moved to a full table and still adjusting a bit.


I slightly suspect that the game I play will be more effective at a full table than at the short tables, despite having more opposition. Time will tell, however. I can say that on a full table, I am not seeing nearly as many flops as on the short table; however, my hand selection tends to hold up better at full tables than it does at short tables for some reason.


Additionally, I will not sit at just any table. I do not care if I have all my bankroll at one poker room, if the table is not to my liking and within my bankroll, I will not sit down period. If the table is too aggressive preflop, I am not inclined to sit down. If the saw flop percentage is higher than I am comfortable with, I will not take a seat. If there is a known monster (as defined by my pokertracker database), I am “off like a prom dress.” I have a list of things I like to see at a poker table. If not all of the criteria are present, I will not sit. Additionally, if I am being outplayed I am not ashamed to admit it and will simply seek out new “tablage.”


As for poker tournaments, I still play tourneys somewhat regularly. My knowledge base on tournament play has increased exponentially thanks to the Harrington series. I find myself selective as to in which online poker tournaments I will participate. I DO NOT, repeat… I DO NOT play in “open to the public” freerolls. The only thing that can make one’s game worse than playing these public freerolls is to play for play chips. I am trying to make my game better, as opposed to worse. That being said, I steer clear of freerolls.


Closed community freeroll poker tournaments, such as through the Blogger Poker Tour, CheckRayz Poker Tour, and the Shark Poker Tour are ok and I will play them. However, I prefer to play in the poker tournaments where people on the poker tables have something vested in their play. CheckRayz, Shark Tour, and BPT (to an extent) do. Sure, some people out there are in it merely for the free ride, trying to milk all things free dry. But many of the peeps (at CheckRayz) play for the Leaderboard points, or to get the global invitational invite via the shark tour. The BPT peeps are playing with their virtual reputations on the line, as we are all able to find out a little something about each and every one of the players participating via their blogs. Thus, there is a slight increase in the level of play, and an in general increase in hand selection, strategy and the like.


When not playing private tournaments, I generally seek out the overlay (more $$$ in the prize pool than entries). I want the smallest field possible and more money in the pot to win. I occasionally dabble in multi-table sit n gos, but only to change things up.


My “tournament game” is simple, though not transparent. If you read Harrington’s books, you know exactly how I play. I am not a cheap date, I smartly pick my spots and move as the table, blinds and chip stack dictates. I do not play to cash, I play to win. I would rather bust out on the bubble than to finish just in the money because I played weak. Do not expect me to be one of “those people” who will lay down 10-10 because he is afraid of being called/reraise on the bubble. I am trying to win this thing. $28.50 in 60th place does nothing for me. $1600 and first place, however, does. That is what I am playing for. If you are playing for the same prize, you might stand a chance. If you are playing just to cash, I am going to walk all over you when I switch to endgame mode.


I have more live game experience. As stated, I did not play my first live tournament until July-ish of last year. I won, though in donk-like fashion. I still have no chip skills, though I am aware that I can no longer pull the semi-string bet tactic. I still have issues counting the pot, counting my chips, and making my spoken raises match the amount of chips I am pushing out. I routinely attempt to count the pot, guest mate the stacks of everyone left to act, and calculate my own M, all before looking at my cards. People are aware of these counting difficulties (the people I play with regularly) and will often move to chap my ass by raising an odd number (2.3 times the blinds for example). Sometimes I have a decent hand, but my mind “disconnects” because its not computing and I will fold out of frustration, even though a call or reraise is most likely correct. I am working on these issues by trying to slow my mind down. I suspect that my mind races, and thus I become careless. Not only does it race, but also I have historically processed multiple things at once, which deems the age old question, “Mike honey, what are you thinking about?” pretty much invalid. I could spend all days elaborating on the THINGS I am thinking on. Rarely, if ever, is it one thing. Obviously, I lack the ability to focus.


Speaking of focus, I generally engage in “controlled distractions” such as talking poker strategy with a friend on messenger while playing. This at least keeps me on topic. If I do not “seek out” a controlled distraction, I end up reading about what happened on Raw Monday night or the transfer speculation from the British Tabloids. When playing poker, I need to concentrate solely on poker, as I am doing now (playing a $10 45 person sit n go on stars while writing this entry).


Obviously, my outlook on what a blog is has changed significantly. I (obviously) keep a blog of my own, avoiding the “90% of the time” and the “poor me” commentary. I attempt to communicate my thoughts, share stories and bring value to my readers. I read other people’s blogs who offer quality content of value along the same lines. I “rarely” drift off topic (poker) unless it somehow will tie in with the poker world as I see and experience it.


I no longer avoid “pokertracker compliant” poker rooms, and instead pretty much only play in rooms where I may utilize the features of pokertracker to help me in my game. I believe in the statistics and welcome the help the program has to offer.


I do not whine about “bad beats.” Thanks to Felicia, I no longer believe in the concept of bad beats and my play is not affected when someone draws on me. I believe in bad play, and will sometimes become frustrated with myself when said donk outdraws and I played it incorrectly. Instead of bitching and whining though, I try to learn from every one of my mistakes. Such a mindset makes me stronger.


I know far more about the game of poker today than I did one year ago. However, I also know that I do not know all there is to know about the game. I am constantly attempting to understand, to better myself and to share my insight with friends along the way.


Mike

"2-7'd" during "birthday week..."

Sloppy and from “early position“… The title says it all...

Mike

Reflections on my poker game (and a lot of “I“ statements…)

With today being part of my “birthday week,” combined with a post I read by my bud “Reel” on the Shark Forum, I have been inspired to reflect on the differences in my poker game over the past year. Actually, evolution of my game is more like it, as my game has more so “evolved” as opposed to simply “changed.” Be warned, I am going to most likely overuse the word “I,” so if you do not wish to like hearing “I this, I that” now is a good time to click on a blog from the links to your left. Additionally, the post will most likely be “all over the place,” so if you like structured posts once again, stage left. If you do not mind the above, feel free to keep reading.


For starters, I read two David Sklansky books (“Theory of Poker” and “Hold’em for Advanced Players”). As a Birthday Present to myself (from myself), I purchased “Small Stakes Hold’em” by Ed Miller. I was convinced these books were all I “needed.” In fact, I believed these books could carry me in the ring or in tournaments.


As for game selection, I played short-handed NL Ring games. I was killing the .10/.25 NL games, sometimes even two tabling and had no desire to move up. My goal was to make $150 per day. There were days where I would lose or break even. I capped my losses at $75, so if I was having a “bad day” and got stuck $75, my stop loss would trigger and I would “hit the showers.” If I went up $150, I would also hit the showers. Only once did I break my rule, as I went up $150 in less than an hour. I called it a day, went to lunch and came back for a second session. I found myself enacting the “stop loss” about four hours later, when I donated the $150 back, plus an additional $75. And yes, I was pissed. Oh, did I mention I had no concept of “table selection?”


I played poker tournaments, but really had no clear concept of overlays and tournament strategy. I was a slightly unprofitable tournament player at this time. I often went deep in tournaments, but usually bounced off or barely penetrated the bubble.


At this stage of my “hobby”, I was not yet aware there were poker blogs. In fact, I believed a blog was something that “attention seeking” people posted things such as:


“Yea, so I really like this girl, but she doesn’t know it. What should I do?” and then makes it a point to put the link to his blog in his AIM or YIM!, or MSN profile.


Followed by…


“I’m sick of it! 90% of the people in this world are… (insert crying commentary here when said girl “pretends” she did not click the link and/or had no idea who you were talking about and ends up dating the tool shed next door.)


So, a year ago, I did not have a blog and I did not read any blogs, other than with my friend Kellyn (miss ya, partner in crime o’ mine) to have a good laugh, usually at someone else’s expense.


I did not regularly read a forum of any sort, nor did I post to any either. I visited the two plus two website monthly, but found their forum to be confusing and difficult to follow, a complicated eyesore at best. Surely, I would have been one of “those people” who would have pointed this out to the forum admin, stopping “just short” of demanding that they make it easier to follow, and just a bit pleasant to MY eye. Felicia would have surely loved me for that post alone. Instead, I just steered clear of their forum, and instead ventured to the monthly “internet magazine” they put out.


I did not play private tournaments (I.e.: Shark Tour events), though I was a member of the Shark Poker Tour. I was also a member to three other online tours, however, instead of playing, I would watch the games unfold, figuring I could secretly become a better tournament player by watching these people in action. After all, donkeys do not play in private freerolls, do they? I watched only the freerolls, because the buy-ins did not have “as large of a field to fight through” so in my mind, the freeroll tournaments would “OBVIOUSLY” feature better play.


I knew of this program called pokertracker. I believed it to be a program that “displayed” all of my hands that were mucked (even if the poker room did not publish what the mucked hand was in the hand history). For this reason, in addition to donking out in VH1 Behind the Music fashion (read: crash and burn, hit rock bottom after being “on top of the world” for my lucky two week streak - I was a one hit wonder, I suspect), I avoided playing on any site that pokertracker could “get to.”


Damn, I was clueless… In addition, I did not have a live hand logged as of yet (one year ago today). I discovered poker via the television and began doing something that may or may not have resembled “playing” poker online. When I finally made my live play debut, I had no chip skills what so ever (I still do not, actually). SuperDonk informed me last night that I am the most unskilled player in the chip department he has ever seen. This included all the morons (both at the casino and in private home games) we have ever sat with. According to SD, I am the only person he knows who can announce a raise amount, and consistently grabs a number of chips that regardless of the chip combination could never ever equal the raise amount I have stated.


An example: blinds are 2/4, we have T1, T5, T25, and T100 chips in front of us. I grab two chips and decide I am raising it to T20 and then sit there as if nothing is wrong. I do not just do this occasionally, I consistently do it. If we are at the same table, he makes it a point to inform everyone not to believe the chip count, but instead take my spoken word for the raise. It has been theorized that I do this purposely, because no one could possibly screw this up as consistently as I do. The conspiracy theorists put forth the probability that I am sending subliminal messages speaking a strong raise, yet putting forth a stack that is not appearing as strong in an attempt to “suck them in,” or just the opposite, speaking a strong raise and sliding out a monstrous stack, none of which match up. They think I under push chips, relative to my words, with a monster, and when I am weaker (pocket fives), I push the larger stack out in hopes of just winning without seeing a flop.


This sounds like something that “could” be true. However, I can assure you first hand, I am just not good with handling chips. When playing live, I miss the slide bar for my raises. I miss the instant display of the pot size. I often screw up when counting the pot. If I count my stack four times, I come up with three different numbers. I often rely on other people to tell me how many chips I have, by pushing all-in and when I am asked “how much u got?” I tell them to count them if they would like to know. I do take their word for it when this happens, as the table counts with the player before they fold.


I think it is reasonably safe to assume that I was better off playing online and never having logged a live hand. My first live tourney would not come until July or August of last year (I believe), where I won my first live tournament. I am not sure, but I think this was part of the M.S.O.P., but could have perhaps been a “warm-up” to the event or the “Mitch Invitational.” Mitch, can you help me out with this one? I left that tournament with some bad habits. For starters, the “almost string bet.” At the final table, I noticed a “tell” to the player on my left, who we will call “Randy.” The jugular would jump when my raises reached a level he was not comfortable calling. When I wanted to raise (seemed like every hand), I’d announce raise and begin sliding stacks of chips sideways (to my left) looking like I am organizing and counting, when really I was looking for the vein jump. When I saw that, I knew I had my number and would slide the chips out. If the vein did not jump, I would know to make a smaller raise because he probably had a monster.


Also, for some reason, I came out of that tournament thinking that hands such as Jack-three “same suit,” and King-seven “not suited” were good hands at full tournament tables. I was very impressionable having never played live and somehow thought it was different. I did not realize these were signature hands, not necessarily quality starting hands, even though the seven-ten offsuit was my signature hand as well.


Rewind to a year ago. In summary, I think I was your average hobby level online player. I knew enough to be “dangerous,” but definitely not deadly. I was winning more than losing, content with not moving up. Having some desire to improve my game, but would not commit to improving if it required much effort. I did not read much, in that I would read a book once and blow right through it. I would not “study” the book. I did not post in forums, nor did I read conversation threads or blogs. I avoided pokertracker like the plague and watched freerolls to improve my game.


I will continue tomorrow (be warned).


Mike

Turning “21” again…

Well, its that time of year again. Sometime throughout this long weekend, the Beer Guy turns 21 yet again. Yes indeed, we’re in the middle of “Birthday Week.” So today, we’re in for a history lesson on the legends of the infamous Birthday Week as well as what is the deal with the whole “turning 21” thing.


For starters, I started doing this whole “Birthday Week” thing with my friends, as there were always one or two people who were “preoccupied” for the birthday celebration of a given group member. This seemed to be the case with every birthday celebration within the group. Someone, for one reason or another had something else going on, be it work, school, family, significant others, etc. So, we decided that if we made the actual celebration a week long gig, we’d be able to fit everyone in. For the most part, this worked out and was, by my own admission “in character” with everything we did. Any group that ran with me seemed to have a knack for “over-doing” things (read: we enjoyed beating a dead horse long after everyone else stopped). So, initially birthdays were celebrated as a one week event.


Over time, we noticed a steep increase in “goods and services.” Inflation was taking its toll on the price of things such as cigarettes, beer, gas (no kidding?), food, etc. So, it was decided that in the spirit of beating a dead horse and respecting the reality of inflation, we needed to expand birthday week to keep it real. In 1998, birthday week expanded to a two week celebration. This was the case until 2004, when the birthday week’s equivalent of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors met to discuss the state of Birthday Week. We collectively met to study birthday week and decided that in an attempt to “control inflation,” and to help “stimulate the economy” (not to mention bring balance to the whole birthday week concept), we unanimously voted to increase the duration of birthday week to three weeks. Celebration would commence one week prior to the actual birthday, pick up pace the week of, and cool off the week after.


As an added bonus, this pretty much ensured that we’d have some sort of “birthday week” going on every week of the calendar year. In fact, the logistics of a new member’s birthday week coming into the group is more important, perhaps, than the actual character of said applicant. We would often meet new people just trying to fill the calendar up when noticing an “opening.”



Now, my “birthday week” is a bit different than anyone else’s in the group. This comes as no surprise, given the conversation we had at one of the post-game watering holes about how I am the exception, not the rule in most everything we do. It should be noted that this is not because I am breaking the “rules of the group,” but instead because I seem to influence and enforce policy. A comparison was made to “The Godfather” of the group, as no one enters the circle without my blessing, nor do they “act out” without risking consequences set forth by yours truly. So, given that I am the policy maker, its only fair that I decide what we are celebrating when it comes to my birthday. I decided we were going to celebrate my “turning 21” every year. And yes, there is a reason for such a decision.


I did not get to celebrate my 21st birthday in the fashion most of “the other kids” got to celebrate theirs. Most peeps got to do the whole bar tour, 21 shots, etc. Not me, though I am surely not complaining. I turned 21 on the beaches of Palma, Spain. Turning 21 over there was not a big deal, as it was “legal” to drink prior to the 21 mark. Of course, we made a big deal of it. We hit the beach nice and early and made ourselves a nice “home base” which was roughly 25 yards from this place called the Daiquiri Palace. We had a waitress bringing us a different flavor of daiquiri every half hour. Water accompanied the daiquiri at the top of every hour. The “palace” was to the daiquiri world what Baskin Robins is to the world of ice cream. It was nice.



Well, correction… It was nice until we noticed the severe blistering from being in the sun entirely too long. Apparantly, its not the best of ideas for a bunch of peeps pulling duty on an Aircraft Carrier rarely seeing the light of day to hit the beach and soak up some rayz for more than 1 hour tops. Needless to say, we headed for lower ground (preferably to find shade of some sort) after receiving our 21st Daiquiri, thus hitting for the cycle. Everyone, less myself and Jason bailed, due to blistering in the sun. Jason was a tropper though. He and I purchased some aloe, and some replica football jerseys. Jason purchased a Scotland national team jersey for some ungodly reason, while I grabbed myself an FC Porto jersey. For some stranger reason, football jerseys feel a bit better on the burned skin than regular shirts do. Anyways, the Scotland jersey would come into play later in the evening. We hit a club called BCM. Jason and I were buzzing drunk 2-7’d (read: hammered). One of us was holding up a bit better than the other though, I suspect.


Across the room, we see these two babes, who I overheard mention something about Scotland. I “radio” Jason telling him to get into formation and stressed the importance of my wingman following my lead and not breaking formation under any circumstances. I introduce myself to the ladies and as I suspected, they immediately comment on Jason’s Football Jersey, asking if he’s from Scotland. Being both a man of principle and of honor, I tell them he is in fact from Scotland. Edinburgh, to be exact. He catches on and decides to play the role of a drunken Irishman meets hammered Canadian and slurs to them “you’re damn well bloody right I’m from Scotland, ey?” Its revealed at this point (I’m laughing too hard at his response) that I’m not from Scotland, but instead I am an American and Jason was my foreign exchange student. We’re “on holiday” tearing it up in Europe, and its my birthday. They “seem” to buy the story, at least initially and are thankful we’re not one of those “dirty sailors” that are ruining their vacation. It should be fairly noted that there were 2 U.S. Ships and a British ship in port at this timeframe, so they could have been referring to either one when they dropped the “them people“ bomb.


Anyways, they bought me a birthday shot. Jason reciprocated buying them drinks. We danced it up for a while, talking and dancing, dancing and talking. My wingman was doing me well. I admit he did go a bit overboard when he began speaking in what he believed was a foreign language. We almost lost him there, however I righted the course and said he was doing his impression of a drunken friend that he met when he was my exchange student.


Jason excused himself to the “W.C.” In his absence I was working on arranging the closing of the deal. I received the green light for landing, as we were planning to take off and go back to their hotel, as it was a bit “too loud” in the club. I radioed the wingman telling him we were ready to land. Instead of putting the landing gear down, Jason breaks formation. We start our final approach heading outside and towards their hotel. Its at that point I hear the last words I wanted to hear. Jason slurs (hick-ups included) “Mike, we have to go back to the boat. I think I’m going to die.” I try to cover for him, but that’s so not happening.


He breaks formation and clips my wing in the process. We’re going down, mayday mayday! We crashed and burned. The girls flipped and were not nearly as understanding as I thought. I enacted the one standard deviation rule, citing he has ancestry traceable to Scotland, and each of us hosted an exchange student at one point in time and we did not consider ourselves one of “those people.” No such luck. Crash and burn, live and learn, nice hand good game, total suck out, etc.


Anyways, that event combined with the absence of a “traditional” celebration in the U.S. led me to make up for it by turning 21 every year. We just celebrate my 21st all over again in traditional U.S. fashion. Really, until retirement age, there’s no meaningful birthday, so why not celebrate the anniversary of the 21st in the interim? Besides, there’s no better way to honor the memory of the survivors of the crash than to memorialize it forever in celebratory fashion. To keep score, I just add yet another roman numeral to the end of my stated age “21” and I’m within my one standard deviation rule.


Tonight, birthday week continues with SuperDonk’s “band” playing at one of the local clubs. This is sure to be an amusing event, as the thought of their “band” cracks me up. Monday, the group will be sitting outside overlooking the lake sipping on 50 cent drafts watching the sunset with the Beer Guy reflecting on life XIII years ago.


Mike

Turning “21” again…

Well, its that time of year again. Sometime throughout this long weekend, the Beer Guy turns 21 yet again. Yes indeed, we’re in the middle of “Birthday Week.” So today, we’re in for a history lesson on the legends of the infamous Birthday Week as well as what is the deal with the whole “turning 21” thing.


For starters, I started doing this whole “Birthday Week” thing with my friends, as there were always one or two people who were “preoccupied” for the birthday celebration of a given group member. This seemed to be the case with every birthday celebration within the group. Someone, for one reason or another had something else going on, be it work, school, family, significant others, etc. So, we decided that if we made the actual celebration a week long gig, we’d be able to fit everyone in. For the most part, this worked out and was, by my own admission “in character” with everything we did. Any group that ran with me seemed to have a knack for “over-doing” things (read: we enjoyed beating a dead horse long after everyone else stopped). So, initially birthdays were celebrated as a one week event.


Over time, we noticed a steep increase in “goods and services.” Inflation was taking its toll on the price of things such as cigarettes, beer, gas (no kidding?), food, etc. So, it was decided that in the spirit of beating a dead horse and respecting the reality of inflation, we needed to expand birthday week to keep it real. In 1998, birthday week expanded to a two week celebration. This was the case until 2004, when the birthday week’s equivalent of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors met to discuss the state of Birthday Week. We collectively met to study birthday week and decided that in an attempt to “control inflation,” and to help “stimulate the economy” (not to mention bring balance to the whole birthday week concept), we unanimously voted to increase the duration of birthday week to three weeks. Celebration would commence one week prior to the actual birthday, pick up pace the week of, and cool off the week after.


As an added bonus, this pretty much ensured that we’d have some sort of “birthday week” going on every week of the calendar year. In fact, the logistics of a new member’s birthday week coming into the group is more important, perhaps, than the actual character of said applicant. We would often meet new people just trying to fill the calendar up when noticing an “opening.”



Now, my “birthday week” is a bit different than anyone else’s in the group. This comes as no surprise, given the conversation we had at one of the post-game watering holes about how I am the exception, not the rule in most everything we do. It should be noted that this is not because I am breaking the “rules of the group,” but instead because I seem to influence and enforce policy. A comparison was made to “The Godfather” of the group, as no one enters the circle without my blessing, nor do they “act out” without risking consequences set forth by yours truly. So, given that I am the policy maker, its only fair that I decide what we are celebrating when it comes to my birthday. I decided we were going to celebrate my “turning 21” every year. And yes, there is a reason for such a decision.


I did not get to celebrate my 21st birthday in the fashion most of “the other kids” got to celebrate theirs. Most peeps got to do the whole bar tour, 21 shots, etc. Not me, though I am surely not complaining. I turned 21 on the beaches of Palma, Spain. Turning 21 over there was not a big deal, as it was “legal” to drink prior to the 21 mark. Of course, we made a big deal of it. We hit the beach nice and early and made ourselves a nice “home base” which was roughly 25 yards from this place called the Daiquiri Palace. We had a waitress bringing us a different flavor of daiquiri every half hour. Water accompanied the daiquiri at the top of every hour. The “palace” was to the daiquiri world what Baskin Robins is to the world of ice cream. It was nice.



Well, correction… It was nice until we noticed the severe blistering from being in the sun entirely too long. Apparantly, its not the best of ideas for a bunch of peeps pulling duty on an Aircraft Carrier rarely seeing the light of day to hit the beach and soak up some rayz for more than 1 hour tops. Needless to say, we headed for lower ground (preferably to find shade of some sort) after receiving our 21st Daiquiri, thus hitting for the cycle. Everyone, less myself and Jason bailed, due to blistering in the sun. Jason was a tropper though. He and I purchased some aloe, and some replica football jerseys. Jason purchased a Scotland national team jersey for some ungodly reason, while I grabbed myself an FC Porto jersey. For some stranger reason, football jerseys feel a bit better on the burned skin than regular shirts do. Anyways, the Scotland jersey would come into play later in the evening. We hit a club called BCM. Jason and I were buzzing drunk 2-7’d (read: hammered). One of us was holding up a bit better than the other though, I suspect.


Across the room, we see these two babes, who I overheard mention something about Scotland. I “radio” Jason telling him to get into formation and stressed the importance of my wingman following my lead and not breaking formation under any circumstances. I introduce myself to the ladies and as I suspected, they immediately comment on Jason’s Football Jersey, asking if he’s from Scotland. Being both a man of principle and of honor, I tell them he is in fact from Scotland. Edinburgh, to be exact. He catches on and decides to play the role of a drunken Irishman meets hammered Canadian and slurs to them “you’re damn well bloody right I’m from Scotland, ey?” Its revealed at this point (I’m laughing too hard at his response) that I’m not from Scotland, but instead I am an American and Jason was my foreign exchange student. We’re “on holiday” tearing it up in Europe, and its my birthday. They “seem” to buy the story, at least initially and are thankful we’re not one of those “dirty sailors” that are ruining their vacation. It should be fairly noted that there were 2 U.S. Ships and a British ship in port at this timeframe, so they could have been referring to either one when they dropped the “them people“ bomb.


Anyways, they bought me a birthday shot. Jason reciprocated buying them drinks. We danced it up for a while, talking and dancing, dancing and talking. My wingman was doing me well. I admit he did go a bit overboard when he began speaking in what he believed was a foreign language. We almost lost him there, however I righted the course and said he was doing his impression of a drunken friend that he met when he was my exchange student.


Jason excused himself to the “W.C.” In his absence I was working on arranging the closing of the deal. I received the green light for landing, as we were planning to take off and go back to their hotel, as it was a bit “too loud” in the club. I radioed the wingman telling him we were ready to land. Instead of putting the landing gear down, Jason breaks formation. We start our final approach heading outside and towards their hotel. Its at that point I hear the last words I wanted to hear. Jason slurs (hick-ups included) “Mike, we have to go back to the boat. I think I’m going to die.” I try to cover for him, but that’s so not happening.


He breaks formation and clips my wing in the process. We’re going down, mayday mayday! We crashed and burned. The girls flipped and were not nearly as understanding as I thought. I enacted the one standard deviation rule, citing he has ancestry traceable to Scotland, and each of us hosted an exchange student at one point in time and we did not consider ourselves one of “those people.” No such luck. Crash and burn, live and learn, nice hand good game, total suck out, etc.


Anyways, that event combined with the absence of a “traditional” celebration in the U.S. led me to make up for it by turning 21 every year. We just celebrate my 21st all over again in traditional U.S. fashion. Really, until retirement age, there’s no meaningful birthday, so why not celebrate the anniversary of the 21st in the interim? Besides, there’s no better way to honor the memory of the survivors of the crash than to memorialize it forever in celebratory fashion. To keep score, I just add yet another roman numeral to the end of my stated age “21” and I’m within my one standard deviation rule.


Tonight, birthday week continues with SuperDonk’s “band” playing at one of the local clubs. This is sure to be an amusing event, as the thought of their “band” cracks me up. Monday, the group will be sitting outside overlooking the lake sipping on 50 cent drafts watching the sunset with the Beer Guy reflecting on life XIII years ago.


Mike

Mailbag

We are going to just cut to the chase and go straight to the mailbag.

Via instant messenger, Stew asks the following “what the hell is this “Beer 3:16” thing you refer to?"

Ha-Ha Stew, good question. Obviously, you are not a wrestling fan. Anyways, here is the story. As early as I remember, when watching sporting events on television (football, baseball, etc.), you would see signs people holding signs in the crowd, or having them hanging off the wall that had a handwritten “John 3:16.” This was obviously a reference to a bible passage.

Anyways, fast forward to June 1996 and the King of the Ring pay per view, put on by the organization formerly known as the WWF. Jake “The Snake” Roberts was slated to fight Steve Austin in the final to crown the King of the Ring. Historically, Jake had many demons (drinking problem, drug problem, family issues, etc.). He was playing the role of a reformed and repenting Christian on-screen. He would often quote the Good Book when cutting his promos. Austin offered an impromptu comment in his promo, where he uttered the infamous words, “You talk about your psalms, talk about your John 3:16.well Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass.”

A few months later, in the opening weeks of the NFL season, little brother and I went to the local watering hole to watch some football, and we knew that the local television was going to be there to take footage from our bar of choice. Along with a few of the regulars, we got a bit ridiculous, and “dressed for the part” where we terrible towels (shark’s favorite piece of memorabilia), dressed and acted obnoxiously, and we hung the infamous “John 3:16” sign on the rail right below where we were sitting. We were totally obnoxious for the camera spot. Somewhere throughout the evening, John 3:16 got crossed out in favor of “Beer 3:16” and it has stuck for all these years.

So in closing, I guess in the spirit of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, the Beer 3:16 passage reads “I just took all your chips, ya donk!”

Next piece of mail comes from Joy. She writes, “Hi Mike, Just stumbled on your blog. Not that I did not enjoy it, but you seem to spend a lot of time writing. Why?”

Hi Joy, thanks for writing and I am glad you enjoyed what you saw. I write in this blog for a number of selfish reasons, though the amount of time I spend writing is certainly up for debate.

For starters, I am that type of person who “needs” a creative outlet, otherwise I get myself into trouble (I.e. - I find myself writing letters to the editor of the local newspaper where I take cheap shots at the whining locals who complain about “what is,” yet seem to do nothing more than whine, as they do not offer solutions to their logic-lacking ramblings. Or, I decide to “make moves” on people at the poker tables, which are donk-like in nature and could should lose me money. Other times, when I lack creative outlet, I start unnecessary wars (read: push “the button” just to see what happens next). Therefore, the world (and my bankroll) is a better place when I write in the blog to utilize my creative needs.

Second, this blog is a place for me to place my thoughts on poker. Unless I delete a post (I have not done so yet), the poker pub acts as a permanent record of said thoughts. I often go back and reference these thoughts, as I find them to be helpful down the road, even if my intention was not to help myself to help myself originally.

Third, I believe that people get SOMETHING out of my writing, be it entertainment, insight, a lesson in poker (beginners), a good laugh (more advanced players not realizing my target audience is more so the beginners than the advanced, as most players we encounter online are in fact beginners). I am satisfied if people get something of value from my posting, though I would keep doing it if they did not, as I gain value by posting.

Finally, the blog is a great way to get the word out there about events that are important to me, and I wish to call attention to them. I consider it a supplement to the CheckRayz site and my mailings. So, that is why I put time into writing. Writing, actually, communication comes very easy for me. I can often fire off a post in five to ten minutes that may take the average Joe an hour to write. It is something I enjoy doing, so as long as I feel I am good at it, and enjoy doing so, I will keep blogging.

I rambled on long enough on the mailbag today, so we will leave it at that… Actually, I‘ll pimp the CheckRayz tournament before ending, tonight there‘s a $5+.50 freeze out qualifier for the $15,000 guaranteed poker tournament tonight at Kiwi Poker that we are hosting. 1 seat (worth $50+5) will be added to the prize pool. This means that there will be two seats for the price of one that will be awarded tonight at 10.30 pm EDT. The password is available on the poker tournament schedule page of the CheckRayz Poker website. You must be a member and logged in to access the password. Registration with CheckRayz, of course, is free.

Have a great weekend everyone, thanks for tuning in, and talk to you soon!

Mike



CheckRayz Mailbag

Housekeeping items

CheckRayz Private 15K Guaranteed Qualifier at Kiwi Poker $5+.50 entry. 1 seat added to the prize pool ($50+5 value). This poker tournament is the last of the month for CheckRayz.

June’s poker tournament schedule will be posted within the next few days. June also marks the final month of the second quarter 2006 CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour.



Blogger Poker Tour this weekend:

BPT Event #6
Lucky Blonde Plays Poker
Poker in the Mountains
27th May 2006 - 4.30pm EDT

Poker.com and the blogger poker tour are sending one blogger to the WSOP. If you’re not a member of the tour, have a blog and are a blogger, sign up!

Actual “post” tomorrow.

Mike



CheckRayz Announcements

PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

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

Live Game Notes…

My internet connection recently has been a royal flush pain in the ass recently, which explains my absence. In any event, I am back and have live poker play to talk about from the “monthly game.”

Early on, I did not have a favorable draw. To my immediate left sat the infamous Transylvanian Terror. He is one of perhaps three people that I need to make a significant adjustment to my game when he has position on me. Also present at the table was SuperDonk. SuperDonk actually called me on Sunday (usually I am calling the group to insure they are awake and moving in time for the live game). A new player to our “monthly game” series who we’ll refer to as “the bartender” was at my table. Eggs, the Blind Defender, “Mitch,” “T,” and “new guy” had a seat with me as well. Finally, the person we will refer to as “Monica Gellar-Bing” (MGB for short) sat to my immediate right.

The first two rounds featured many pots going to the flop six handed and slightly raised. The Transylvanian Terror would raise if he felt like playing and limpers were in front of him. It was hard for me to get into the multi-way pots un-raised, as I could count on him raising behind me. Thus, in the early rounds, my strategy was to raise my standards slightly regarding my starting hands. Last month, I had got into many pots early on that were not raised. This month, I wanted to do the same; however, I also wanted to be sure I was comfortable playing them to a slight raise if the Terror pushed in a given hand.

For these reasons, I did not have much of a presence early on in the tournament. In fact, I appeared to “wake up” when blinds moved to 4-8 and I was dealt QQ under the gun. I raised 5x blinds and this was the first hand I personally raised preflop. I had three callers, which were the Transylvanian Terror and The Blind Defender, who was apparently defending his button, and MGB, who was in the big blind. The Defender’s call suggested a pocket pair, two cards in the paint, or Axs, Kxs, and from a starting hand standpoint, he was the only person I was “worried about.” Four handed, the flop comes K-10-3. Knowing the Terror was most likely planning to throw out a pot sized continuation bet, and suspecting that if I bet out, the only callers will be those who have me beat. I believed the terror would call cleanly if he had me beat, however, if on a draw he would reraise me. The defender “could” make a play at me even if I had him beat, but would be unlikely to do so this early in the tournament. MGB could theoretically call me to the river with or without anything, so a continuation bet seemed the best route.

I bet out roughly 50% of the pot after MGB checks it to me. The terror folds, and the blind defender pushes all-in. MGB folds, I think for a second and fold, wishing to pick a better spot.


Blinds are now 5-10 and I am dealt pocket 8’s. The terror limps under the gun, which for some people would set off warning sirens (note: if I limp utg, run like hell!), two more limpers, in addition to MGB in the SB, and action is to me. I can either check this and see the flop 5 handed, or I can raise it up and try to cut down the opposition. I figure I can get four handed if I raise, so I put in a 3x blinds raise. As predicted, one person folds, Terror, Defender, MGB and I see the flop of K-3-8. I push out a small bet, roughly 30% of the pot, which the defender once again raises. The Transylvanian Terror folded prior to the Defender’s raise. MGB calls his raise cleanly, as do I. The turn card is a jack, which is suited to the eight on the previously rainbow flop. From a starting hand standpoint, I am only really “worried” about the draw on the board, specifically the Q-10, as any ace or nine plays to beat my set. Defender “could” have KJ, K10, or even AK, of which he would call me if I bet hard on the turn, appearing to buy the pot. Once again, I believe MGB would call if she hit the board up high at all. Thus, I push all-in, hoping for a taker. The defender tries to talk through it, gets nowhere with me and folds. MGB folds as well and I take the pot down uncontested.

Still at 5-10, action folds to MGB, who limps on the button. It should be noted that with the terror previously being active with his raising, and now my willingness to play ball has appeared to tighten the table up quite a bit. I peak down and see K-9 of clubs. I think for a moment and put in a 3x raise, wanting to isolate and/or steal. The terror folds his BB and MGB calls cleanly. She also seems frustrated with my raising behind her. The flop comes K-Q-9. In what I now believe was a bone-headed move, I tried to play on her frustrations and pushed all-in with my two pair. She makes a quick call without an ounce of thought and flips over Kq offsuit. She takes the pot down with the higher two pair, and takes out about ¾ of my stack to my disappointment. As stated, it “seemed” the right play at the moment, however, when we take into consideration that ¾ of my stack was at risk (I grossly underestimated her chip count), and how she’d be somewhat likely to call with top pair or AK or KJ, but would DEFINITELY call with hands I was a huge underdog to (J-10, KQ). In hindsight, I think I was -EV to push like that, though I would have probably lost just as many chips spread out to the river, as she would call, call, and call.

Now the Beer Guy is the short stack at the table, which coincides with the blinds going up to 10-20. I am in all-in or fold mode, which lasts for a while until I push all-in with A-K. Having me covered, and thinking I am on the steal, the Transylvanian Terror makes the call with A-7. He spikes a seven on the flop and leaves me dead in the water. I make my final stand with 4-6 suited, as blinds will hit me next and break me. Neither my four nor six play in the six handed, checked pot and I am sent to the rail.

“Mitch” and MGB would go on to the final table, where they ended up in a back and forth heads up battle. Eventually, they agree to a split, though the final hand gave “Mitch” the “title of Champion. I never really got it going. Mitch played some good poker, and MGB was catching like a madwoman the whole way through the tournament.

As always, the monthly game was a lot of fun and thanks goes out to both the host and the hostess (note: hostess had to work and thus did not play, unfortunately). Bar none, they put on the best game in the city and I always look forward to the game.

Tomorrow, we will be back on our regular posting schedule, so until then…

Mike

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Day Late and Dollar short on notes... tourneys of the week

Preakness Notes

Well the Preakness is behind us. I planned to discuss the Preakness yesterday before post time. However, too many “things” came up that commanded my attention. My heart goes out to Barbaro. It was a real shame to see him go out like that. I am hoping the injury to his leg is not life threatening. Not to trivialize his injury by talking about the gambling aspect of this, but this is a poker blog… and we DO discuss gambling at the Poker Pub. Do you realize that the betting public had Barbaro as the 3 to 5 favorite? Furthermore, do you realize what exactly three to five odds means?

Simply put, a horse at three to five is believed to win the race 62.5% of the time. That means if the race is run 100 times, he wins 62 times. In a field such as those encountered in the Triple Crown, that is unreal. I do not care how great the horse is believed to be. No horse should be 3 to 5. Needless to say, while any exotic bets I placed yesterday did contain Barbaro, they were not exclusively dependant upon his showing up in the money. Long story short, Hemmingway’s Key messed up my Superfecta bet. The Belmont is going to be a wide-open race. Historically, this is the race that I have the most problems in handicapping. I plan to modify my “formula” to try to compensate, as I see the flaw in the logic of my analysis, and “think” I can mathematically compensate this year.


Live Game Notes

Today is the “monthly game.” Your drunken Beer Gawd is the defending champion. For anyone playing today, the bad news is that I am playing phenomenal poker as of late and feel confident that I will repeat. The good news is that due to my internet connection issues lately, I am perhaps not “up to form.” Last month going into the game, I was playing daily. I played my normal dose of cash games and put in some overtime with both CheckRayz/Shark tournaments, and public poker tournaments. My mentality was tweaked to focus on intense poker tournament play. Outside of CheckRayz tournaments and league tournaments with my team (Shark Army), I have played little to no poker this week. This is not an excuse in advance. I do plan to win, once again regardless of cards and bad beats. I’m taking a bite out of Bill Fillmaff’s plus EV rules and letting everyone know I do not accept bad beats (I guess that means that any bad beats that come my way is a misdeal, by his logic).


No seriously, I plan to repeat as champion. I am predicting this month will feature our largest field ever for the “monthly game.” As always, I am really looking forward to getting together with the group. As usual, I will have the run down on the event and stories spun into strategy that will last all week.

Poker Tournaments of Interest for the week

Here are the tournaments I have my eye on this week. You may be wise in taking interest as well! Links to poker rooms are provided. If you find a tourney you like, or a poker room new to you, please show appreciation by clicking my links.


Sunday 21 May

11am EDT - $100K guaranteed MTQ ($5+.50) River Belle Poker.
11.30am EDT - $100K guaranteed MTQ ($5+.50) River Belle Poker.
2pm EDT - Celebrity Classic $500 added to the prize pool - Hollywood Poker ($10+1).
3pm EDT - Jungle Poker $1000 weekly freeroll poker tournament.
3.30pm EDT - $100K Guaranteed ($50+5) - River Belle Poker.
5pm EDT - $25K Guaranteed - Kiwi Poker ($100+9).
6pm EDT - Jungle Poker $1000 weekly first deposit freeroll poker tourney.
6.15pm EDT - $10K guarantee ($50+5) - Poker.com
7.30pm EDT - Short table$2000 guaranteed - Kiwi Poker ($10+1) .
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).


Monday 22 May

11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).
3.30pm EDT - $19K Guarantee - River Belle Poker ($10+1).
5pm EDT - $11K Guarantee - River Belle Poker ($30+3).


Tuesday 23 May

9pm EDT - $100 Private Freeroll Poker Tournament via Shark Poker Tour - Absolute Poker.
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).

Wednesday 24 May

11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).


Thursday 25 May

9pm EDT - $5 buy-in, $200 added, launch bonus on Bornsupreme “weekly match” brought to you by the Shark Poker Tour at Absolute Poker.
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).


Friday 26 May

6.45pm EDT - 10K guaranteed at Noble Poker ($30+3).
7.45pm EDT - WSOP Super Satellite ($300+15) Kiwi Poker. 15 peeps in this one at time of print. Satellite qualifiers are going on all week at Kiwi. This is a don’t miss event!
10pm EDT - $100 freeroll via online shark at Poker.com
10.30pm EDT - CheckRayz private 15K guaranteed MTQ freeze-out ($5+.50) at Kiwi Poker, 1 seat added to the prize pool.
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).


Saturday 27 May

4.30pm EDT - $15K guarantee ($50+5) - Noble Poker
4.30pm EDT - $15K guarantee ($50+5) - Kiwi Poker
5pm EDT - $1+.10 “donk-fest” with $300 added to the prize pool! Brought to you by Online Shark at Pokertime.
5.30pm EDT - WSOP Final ($725+65) - River Belle Poker - satellite qualifiers going on all week!
11pm EDT $1K Guaranteed - Poker4ever ($30+3).

Weekly thoughts and the mailbag, back to its originally scheduled timeslot…

For starters, having issues with internet connection really sucks. I did not find out that I was not going to have proper service for the duration of yesterday until it was later in the evening. For that reason, I was neither able to place my infamous tech support phone calls, nor was I able to gain a replacement for the Poker League some members of the Shark Forum and I are playing in dominating.

Despite being “connected” for roughly two in six hands, I managed to take fourth place in my leg last night. This comes the night after putting forth a highlight reel performance winning my leg. The team stepped it up as well 2 nights ago, with Clayshooter winning his leg as well. Unfortunately, last night Born won his group, but we did not “place.” That being said, we are still on top of the table and the boys are going to bring ‘er home tonight!


As a sidenote, if there’s anyone within reading distance that would like to play team with us, we are forming a second team. I am eventually planning to migrate to the second team, initially pulling double duty, but eventually finding a permanent home on team number two. Bob, our (unofficially named by me) first quarter CheckRayz MVP has already dropped an indication of interest. Judith has agreed to put the team together, and we are looking for some more players to form our team. I “believe” that we are looking at the 9pm timeslot for right now. Details of the second team for the poker league can be found here.

Tonight marks our weekly match at Kiwi for the CheckRayz 15K guaranteed private satellite qualifier. I have tested it out and we are now all set to go (read: the infamous “money transfer incident” has been resolved). This brings me to the first piece of mail from the Mailbag.


Mailbag time

First letter is actually initiated by me (gasp!) and is addressed to my affiliate manager at Kiwi. It reads:

Hi Le,


I registered and unregistered real quick today for the CheckRayz tourneytomorrow. It looks like the problem has been resolved.

Thanks!

Mike

Her reply (wow, this seems so backwards):


Hi Mike,

This is very good news. We want to ensure the 15K mtq runs smoothlytonight, please let me know if you or any of your Checkrayz members haveany issues while registering the tourney. I will in the office until6pm, send me an email if you need assistance.Thanks Mike, good luck and have fun this evening!

Regards,
Le

Bottom line, get all known issues to me, if any, by 5pm tonight, so I can bring them to her attention.

Back to normal format here and Norman is up:


Hi, Mike. Just for the record, will you handle the Leaderboard points the same way as you did at Kiwi? Gary 1st, you 2nd, and me 3rd? I really wasn't looking at the chip totals that closely, but I think that was the order when we were closed down. I know it's not your fault, but I think we need a contingency plan if this happens again. We are playing at Kiwi Friday, so we should be prepared if they do it again. Let me know what you decide. Maybe ask several of the regular players for suggestions. Talk to you soon. Take care. Norman

To which, I retort:


Hey Norm,

Yea, I handled it the same way. I had Gary covered by 1000 or so when I took down that all in pot with prince. The backup plan, for this quarter at least is going to be ending chip count. I had 15 and small change after blinds were posted, prince had 2400 or so.Anyways, i did update the board. Let me know if it looks right.

Talk to you soon.

Mike

Back at me from Norman:


Sorry, Mike, I didn't mean to short change you! LOL. Like I said, I wasn't watching the chip totals real closely for you and Gary, I just knew he had the lead before the last hand. This is better for me anyway, because I get to stay in first a little longer! LOL. Everyone on the final table got their points except 9th place, "Frederics0", unless he is on the list under another name. I didn't see anyone else getting 8 points, though. See you Friday at Kiwi. Take care. Norman

All that being said, we can deduce that when the tournament ends, which the end is triggered by the number of players equaling exactly the number of 15K guaranteed tokens shown in the prize pool, we’ll go with final chip count to determine how Leaderboard points are assigned. Additional note, the fredrics person was not located in the database. If he contacts me this weekend, I'll credit him points.

Pardon me while I change the channel, as I just realized that Barney is on, despite the kids having gone to school a few hours ago (they watch PBS in the morning before getting ready for school. I usually leave the television on for background noise purposes while they are away and I am taking chips from donks, but never on PBS).

Finally, we will wrap up the mailbag this week with Judith. She writes (summary):

Mike,

I need help recruiting for the second team.

Judith


Ask and you shall receive. Here is the plan. We would like ten peeps who are willing and able to play in the league at 9pm Monday-Friday. Each player will play 2-3 nights per week, as five players are named to the team for each night’s competition. I am committing to playing three of those nights, Wednesday-Thursday-Friday. Players can play more or less than three nights per week, as the team schedule and personal schedules/preferences allows.

Individuals interested should go to the poker team forum here and indicate interest. If you’re not a member of the Shark Forum, feel free to sign up. However, if you’re not comfortable posting publicly on the forum, you may also indicate interest by sending me an email. My address can be located through the CheckRayz site.


We are looking for both established and up and coming players, who are willing to learn the game better. I am both willing and able to offer coaching to anyone on the team desiring such. I typically have multiple windows open and offer commentary as appropriate. So, in conclusion, let us know you are interested!

Tomorrow, I would predict, connection willing, there is going to be talk on the Preakness as well as thoughts on Sunday’s “monthly game,” of which I am the reigning champion.

Mike



CheckRayz Mailbag

Fillmaff Rules!

Bill Fillmaff has taught me to win virtual millions with his proven method... Secret system! Thanks to Bill and his instructional videos I now have a whole closet of "virtual sockrolls." If Fred McGriff were endorsing poker videos, this is the one he'd choose!

The ten most important things Bill Fillmaff and Secret System have taught me:

10. I owe him a royalty when I win a tournament with his signature hand (KJoffsuit). He has it copywritten.

9. I've been pronouncing Bellagio wrong for all these years.

8. Without Secret System, we're all donkeys.

7. Reading his book is positive EV.

6. Not reading his book is negative EV.

5. Multi-tabling was invented by Bill Fillmaff and is possible not just online, but also live, with the help of a picture of yourself, placed on the back of your head.

4. Proper sock roll management is of paramount importance.

3. Pointing out how amateur someone's play is while at the table is positive EV.

2. The value call with the nuts is perhaps the most powerful move in poker.

1. Bill Fillmaff is the greatest, all others are tied for last.

In fact, Bill's Secret System set of instructional videos are so great, I can't limit the top ten list to just ten lessons!

Additional thing Bill Fillmaff's Secret System has taught me:

a. Telling people what I just folded when it hits the board is plus EV.

b. Pocket kings are not a good hand to defend vs. an All-in move. Waiting for a better spot is advised.

c. Its extremely important to tell the dealer that I refuse to accept bad beats.

Thanks Bill for sharing your knowledge!

follow-thru on the "Kiwi Poker Incident"...

So, if we recall, I had issues getting registered for the private CheckRayz tournament that I hosted at Kiwi Poker on Friday. Here's a follow up to my dialogue with their support department between my affiliate manager and I.


Kiwi affiliate manager’s response to the cc’s from Friday night

Hi Mike,

We read over the messages sent back and forth between you and our KCPsupport team Friday below. We wanted to say that on behalf of our affiliate team that we are trulysorry that you were not able to enter your own Checkrayz tourney onFriday evening.

As you may know, we had thought all was resolved. But it seems that it was not. We understand your disappointment andfrustration. We can only assure you that we are getting to the bottomthis and finding out what happened on Friday evening. We want to make sure that this type of situation does not happen again,to you or to any of our affiliates for that matter.

We appreciate your business and would like to continue supporting you bythe highest standards.I wanted to thank you for patience Mike. I will be in touch again shortly.

Kind regards,

Le


My reply


Hi Le,

Thank you for getting back to me on this. I appreciate your hard work and attention on not only this matter, but in everything we've worked on together since I came onboard as an affiliate. Your dedication and attention to detail, especially as of late, has been top notch and I truly appreciate it.

That being said, I do not fault you on the issue at hand from Friday. I feel you did your best to both resolve the situation and also to keep me in the loop. In fact, I would not have even held support accountable had I felt for one second they were "listening" to me. I feel as if they stopped reading once they saw the terms "affiliate" and "private tourney registration issues." If they'd simply have referenced the dialogue between you and I, which I passed along to them, perhaps citing "i understand you and Le have discussed the issue, however, without her contacting us right now, we cannot help," I'd have at least felt like I was heard, and that nothing could have helped me - no harm no foul, we tried. Instead, I was assisted in feeling as if I was typing upon dead ears, which is/was extremely frustrating as you could surely tell from the tone and pace of my interactions with support.

We do have the entire week ahead of us to try to get this resolved. Eventually, we'll get it right :) As a quick sidenote, I do truly believe that the concept of not allowing players involved in p2p transfers in cash games and sit n gos is a great policy! I think the spirit of the policy is beneficial to the players, serving as protection of sort - lowering the possibility of collusion via shared bankroll. I think the policy reflects highly on the level of commitment of Kiwi to us players.
Finally, as discussed last week, the 15K token that was not able to appear in the prize pool should be awarded to the appropriate player.

Thanks again for your efforts and talk to you soon!

Mike


Le’s timely response (she’s definitely stepped up and has been on the ball)

Hi Mike,

Good morning to you and thanks for your email. I appreciate your feedback and comments about our KCP support. Don'tworry, your voice has been heard! I will forward on your comments tothe appropriate department.Also, we will issue the 2nd token to your player, thanksfor letting us know.Be in touch soon.

Warm regards,

Le


Call me foolish perhaps, but I remain confident that the poker affiliate gods will take care of me on this one and we’ll get it right by this next week. As for the depths of support hell, I can’t say that it’s a pleasant place to visit and wish it upon no one.

Mail call the morning after...

There is reason that the mailbag was late this week. Now usually I do not have to deal with support at the various poker rooms in which I play. On the rare occasion, its a "blast" (read: it sucks, I don't wish it on my worst enemy, fingernails being ripped off one by one slowly and deliberately is less painful, etc.). Only twice in the history of dealing with a poker room support have I had an overall pleasant experience... Poker.com's support is by far the best in the business. River Belle did not do a bad job either. All others are simply tied for last place, so far in my ever so humble opinion. So before we "head south" here, hats off to Poker.com & River Belle's customer support!

Now onto the good stuff (the mailbag). We're making this a one trick pony this week here at the mailbag, as we're going to detail my email correspondance between myself and the entire talented staff of a poker room support.

To give you background into this dialogue, we had issues last week with the CheckRayz 15K Guaranteed Multi-Table Qualifier. My affiliate manager was right on the case. She was very proactive in responding and working to resolve the problems we had, which there were two. First, the prize pool did not reflect the extra token to the 15K qualifier that was to be placed into the prize pool. We discovered that the software doesn't allow it and she promptly credited the individual who took second place the token. Second, there was a small issue of the software turning away anyone at the door (of the private tourney) who was involved in a money transfer with another player who was registered for the tournament. Last week, TexasDan could not get into the tournament - because I had previously transferred $$$ to him for launching my drunken donk arse from a tournament (KJ v AA - bad beat in Bill Fillmaff's book, as KJ should always win - when he plays it, at least). There were others who had been involved in money transfers with me as well, but I had myself manually registered for the tournament, not realizing that others would be locked out by my doing so. This was one of those live and learn experiences.

Now as a further sidenote, I think it is great that they (Kiwi's cashiering system) are being proactive in trying to prevent collusion amongst players. I've been told that the theory behind this is to prevent individuals involved in money transfers on the poker room's software at Kiwi Poker from being able to play sit n go tournaments together. This surely helps to prevent peeps from "going into business" together, specifically in the jackpot sit n gos. I do firmly believe that any measure taken by poker rooms to protect online players is a great thing, EVEN IF IT COMES AT MY EXPENSE. That being said, I bring you the semi-edited email thread, first between myself and my Kiwi affiliate manager, then between myself and kiwi's "24-7 customer support." Of course, I'll be offering color commentary along the way (my email in plain text, their responses in italics, my commentary in bold). We start mid conversation with the manager and I, discussing my "problems" back on Monday.

Hi Le,

First off, thanks for getting me into the tourney. The efforts are very much appreciated. However, there are two problems. First, at least one of my members are also having issues entering the tourney, due to the same reasons.

As I had said before, there is lots of transferring going on by me to my members. I need for EVERYONE who has access to the tourney password to be permitted entry for our future events.

Second, the prize pool agreed upon below is not the same that is reflected in the tourney. Currently, with 13 players, the prize pool shows one seat, $5 for second, $3 for third, $2 for fourth. The added seat we agreed upon below doesn't seem to have been added. First and second should be awarded a seat with 13 entered. I assume this was a configuration error of some sort. That being said the playeer who finished second place is in need of a 15K token.

Mike

Summary: She manually placed me into the tournament on Friday of last week, as stated earlier. Unfortunately, this locked Dan out. The prize pool had "issues."

Le's response:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your email. Am also glad to hear that you were able to play in the Checkrayz 15K mtq event on Friday night. We will have to take a closer look into why its not easy for players to enter tourneys when they have received a player-to-player transfer and get back to you on this one.

Also, the prize pool that we had arranged for the Checkrayz 15K event is as per our agreement but it may be a display issue in the KCP client why this special prize pool arrangement was not reflected in the tourney description. We will make sure that the 15K tokens are issued to the proper players and find out more about the display of the prize pool structure. Thanks Mike. We will be in touch shortly.

Kind regards,
Le
Affiliate Marketing Coordinator
Gaming Partners Affiliate Network

Le did a great job getting back to me in a timely manner. Additionally, she hit each one of my issues (both of which are big plusses in my book).

Moving on to Tuesday:

Hi Mike,

I wanted to get in touch about the Checkyrayz 15K tourneys. :) Firstly, your player has been issued a token from the 2nd place win in the Checkrayz 15K MTQ by our team. We did our best but Kiwi Casino Poker can not configure the Checkrayz 15K mtq prize pool to display the exact token prizes to be paid out as per the player entered into the tournament. Our best solution to this is to note the special prize pool in the private tourney description write up. But rest assured the prizes will pay out as per our arrangement, even if we can not get it to display as so! Finally we are still looking into clearing up the player-to-player transfer restrictions. We will come back with something as soon as we can.

Thanks for your patience Mike. Will be in touch soon.

Kind regards,
Le
Affiliate Marketing Coordinator
Gaming Partners Affiliate Network

OK, she gets back to me, in a proactive manner, informing me that the proper player was credited with the token. Additionally, she puts in my mind that the "known issues" going into next week's tourney is that the prize pool cannot display properly. Additionally, the money transfer issue is still a problem, but is being worked on. Once again, mad props to Le for being proactive in informing me where we stand. She is moving up the list quickly of my favorite affiliate managers to work with by addressing everything quickly and in full.

I respond thanking her for letting me know what's going on, and express that I'm more concerned about the actual payouts than the display. And providing the tokens award as per agreement, I'm cool with it.

moving along to wednesday... another update from Le (scoring more points!):

Hi Mike,

How are you? It seems that the prize pool pay out can not be configure exactly to our liking, but rest assured, the pay out will be properly awarded to Checkrayz players! Also, you'll be happy to hear that Checkrayz players, in fact all Kiwi Casino Poker players will not have any issue with playing in the same tourney or at the same table if they are recipients of the player-to-player funds transfers. The only restriction of this policy will be reserved for sit n go and cash table games.

Hope this information helps. Again thanks for your patience Mike, just let me know if you need anything else. Have good evening!

Regards,
Le
Affiliate Marketing Coordinator
Gaming Partners Affiliate Network

Wow, this is awesome. The follow-up continues, and the issue I had with p-p money transfers is both explained and resolved, according to Le. This is great, both in that she has informed me, and that they worked to resolve this small matter. Additional shout out for putting me in the loop about when money transfers via player to player cannot play together. I register for the tournament, because the coast is now clear.

Fast forward to Friday.

Hi Le,

One of my players just informed me he could not register for the tournament tonight due to the money transfer issue. It apparantly did not resolve. I'm withdrawing so everyone else can register, but will need to be manually placed into the event last minute --- unless the issue gets fixed.

Please advise,
Mike

Short, sweet, to the point. The beer guy "taking one for the team."

Her timely response:

Hi Mike,
Could you please send us the players' Kiwi Casino Poker nick name who wasn't able to register for the Checkrayz 15K tourney?
I will contact our support team and see how this can be resolved ASAP.

Thanks Mike.

Regards,
Le

I send her the player's names along with the players who I have transfer records of within the last 2 months. Not a complete list though, as I've moved more money at kiwi, but their records that I can access can only go back to last month. Once again, mad props to Le for staying on top of this. She responds thanking me for my additional info, as well as for what she had specifically asked for (when i do business I try to anticipate needs/future needs and provide accordingly). She tells me she'll follow up as appropriate.

Hi Mike,

Was able to get in touch with our support team and they've assured us that you can register into the Checkrayz 15K MYQ tonight and your players. Please let me know how it goes, hopefully I'll be here for a little while longer to assist if need be.

Thanks Mike.
Warm regards,
Le

Ironically, I receive this email while attempting to register. Like, specifically, the moment I'm being denied entry due to the transfer problem. I try again in five minutes, still nothing... I inform her of such, she assures me it will be taken care of by tourney start time.

Enter the Beer Guy's dialogue with support, as she is no longer in the office. I took the fam out to dinner and returned, unable to enter the tournament.

Hello,

I was working with Le today to get myself registered for the 10.30 EDT CheckRayz 15K MTQ (see correspondance below). My screenname is imhere4thebeer. I am the affiliate rep for this tournament. I need to be manually placed into the tournament approximately five minutes before start time.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mike

Stated fact, and attached the email thread to the email to support. Receive the canned response telling me blah blah blah, 24-7 support.... committed to our customers... etc. Ten minutes later, mailbox gets a present.

Dear Mike,

Thank you for contacting Kiwi Casino Poker. Hi this is Jojo of Kiwi Casino Poker Support! We acknowledge receipt of your email, if you need to be added to the list, please ask your affiliate manager to contact our poker room manager, because we have no authority to add players in restricted tournament lists.

Have a pleasant day Mike and good luck! Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team. We are available 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week.

With Best Regards,
Jojo
Kiwi Casino Poker

OK, Jojo instructs me to contact my rep manager (Le) to get me into this tournament. I did so per the emails I forwarded them. I strongly suspect we did not read below our nose, so I reply... (to JoJo, I assume)

This is extremely disappointing. I was ASSURED this was taken care of and would be taken care of. As per below, my affiliate manager sent an email to support alerting them of this issue and surely asking them to allow me access and release the rule on money transfers not being allowed to play . How was it not resolved?

I'm extremely disappointed.
Mike

Sense the frustration in my tone yet? Oh, incomes a reply, assuming its from "jojo." We read:

Dear Michael,
Thank you for contacting Kiwi Casino Poker. Hi, this is Lem from the support team and I'm glad to be of assistance Michael, as what my colleagues informed you need to directly contact your affiliate manager regarding this matter so that you may have the eligibility for the CheckRayz $15,000 MTQ. Your affiliate manager would directly contact us and as soon as we have updates from them, rest assured that we will keep you posted. Your patience and cooperation is greatly appreciated in handling this matter.

Thank you.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team. We are available 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week.

With Best Regards,
Lemmuel
Kiwi Casino Poker

OK Lem will be referred to as "not jojo," though just like "is jojo," "not jojo" does not read below his nose either. If he scrolled down through the history of my email, he'd clearly see Le had in fact referenced contacting them directly, support's response stating I was good to go, and talk of me still not being able to access the tournament. Furthermore, "not jojo" would see that I'm allowed to play and could have easily placed me in the tournament. Or maybe I am too harsh. Perhaps he could have located the email Le sent regarding this issue and put me in. Either way, I should be in the tournament. So, I respond:

Hi,

OK, apparantly you're not understanding. Let me break this down further.

As per this email thread, I did directly contact my affiliate measure regarding this matter. The affiliate manager did directly contact you, as per her commentary below. My patience is a moot point now, as this issue was claimed to have been resolved HOURS AGO. The tournament in question has already taken place. Now, it is a matter of principle.

Per the email below which I hinted to, Le --- my affiliate manager... the one I contacted directly, informed me that I was able to enter. After all, I have the password. In fact, I am the affiliate for that matter. She said the issue regarding "money transfers" did not apply to us and that it was not an issue. She also informed me support said I'd be able to enter with no problem, as the restrictions on players who transferred money to one another only applied to sit n gos. Apparantly someone mis-informed her, which leaves me very disappointed.

My dillemma is now that my players who entered the tournament and I are aware of why it is I am not able to play tonight. I had to withdrawl because two players needed in, and I had the affiliate manager to work with on this matter all day long. We worked, she explained that support informed her it was fixed. I tried and failed. She informed me that she emailed support and that it would be resolved. Someone dropped the ball here.

They knew that I'd be there, because I was told this issue would be resolved.

In conclusion, please start reading this entire email from all the way at the bottom to the top. You'll clearly see that I did in fact contact my rep and she did in fact contact support and did in fact assure me this issue was going to be resolved.

Mike

That was all typed in one breath, by the way. I assume the recipient was neither "is jojo" nor "not jojo." I also assume this person read the email as per instructed. Furthermore, I'd not be surprised if they threw the "death button" on my player account, sentencing me to a lifetime supply of hammers in the hole. Little do they know, I am +EV on the hammer. "neither 'is jojo' nor 'not jojo' " responds:

Dear Mike,

Thank you for contacting Kiwi Casino Poker. I am Geloy your committed support team representative ready to assist you today. We would like to inform you that we are still waiting for the relevant department’s reply with regard to your concern on tournaments. We ask for your patience with regard to this matter. Thank you for your understanding.We passionately offer our members the best quality service attainable and your satisfaction is our main goal.Enjoy the rest of your day Mike. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team.

We are available 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week.

With Best Regards,

Geloy
Kiwi Casino Poker

I was right, it either went to a third person in support, or these emails are linked to one of those "myspace what customer support name fits you" surveys where their login consists of answering four questions, and a randomly generated customer support name is applied to the "regards" portion of the email. But wait, there's another one inbound.

Dear Michael,

Thank you for choosing Kiwi Casino Poker! We would like to confirm that we have received your email and it has been forwarded to the relevant department. You will be contacted as soon as possible with further information. In the meantime, we kindly ask for your patience and cooperation in handling this matter.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team.

They are available 24*7 at:Email: support@kiwicasinopoker.com

Toll Free (U.S. only)Phone: 1-866-636-3516
Fax: 1-866-289-1596

InternationalPhone: 63-2-845-9015
Fax: 63-2-845-9016

Warmest regards,
Kiwi Casino Poker Support Team

OK, just like myspace tools, apparantly the random name generator was down. I'm thinking the last thing they want to do is to pick up the phone and have me on the other end of it. And no, I didn't place a phone call either. I am kicking back, calming down, and putting together a blog entry.

I rest certain that Le was not at fault on this one. After all, she responded to each of my points in a timely manner and proactively kept me in the loop. Someone that thorough is not going to drop the ball or forget to email support. I'm placing blame on support, thankful its not too often that I must utilize them.

I'll keep everyone posted on how this one turns out come monday when le returns to work, seeing all the cc'd correspondance. Until then, have a great weekend...

Mike

CheckRayz Mailbag

Smack talk on the poker tables, upcoming events, and a bit of "pimpage"...

League Play and CheckRayz tournament commentary

Last night the Beer Guy made his Pokerroom league debut for Team Shark, representing the Shark Powered Network (CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark, and the SPN Forum) in league play. As expected, we rose to the occasion and took down first place for the night, moving us third overall. Yours truly, despite all going on, won my leg of league play. Teammates Bornsupreme and clayshooter both took second places, and reelcrazy and gary812 took third and fifth respectively in their legs. Great showing by the team!

By all fault of my own, I had quite a full plate yesterday, considering I had three tournaments going on at once, with the league, the CheckRayz money added poker tournament at Poker4ever, and the CheckRayz heads up poker challenge at Celeb Poker. CheckRayz standout Lazrus knocked the beer man out of the heads up challenge in the first round, moving on to take down the event. He’s had my number lately, as this is two events in a row Lazrus has knocked me out of. Last person to own me in this manor was TexasDan, though he did so during bounty week, and collected nicely. Ironically, Dan and I had the exact same hands both times he ousted me. He had aces acting behind me, I had the Fillmaff (KJ) and was making a move, only to run smack dab into his aces both times.

As a note/warning to Laz, Dan has not been the same on a poker table full of beer since the two in a row. He’s been haunted by the Beer Guy, raising up over him, hitting the flop hard, knocking him off his hand, affecting his game. Don’t let that happen to ya. Keep playing your game and you’ll do fine. Don’t let the thought of ousting the Beer Guy in three straight CheckRayz tournament nights (that I’ve played) get into your head. Additionally, don’t let it get into your head that I’m putting $20 up if you can make it a third time (special launch bonus exclusive to you). Don’t be shy, rise up and collect the bounty. Third time is a charm!

Is it my imagination or am I trying to stir up a friendly rivalry? Or maybe its that I’m trying to counteract the state of “owned” I’ve been in whenever on the table with Sir Lazrus? A little of both even? One final note, Larry; Don’t just sing it… bring it!


Blogger Poker Tour Talk

As we all probably know, the Beer Guy hosted blogger poker tour event number four, appropriately named “We’re Just Here 4 the Beer.” Yesterday, I received a prize pack for hosting event number four from the BPT and Poker.com. I like receiving free stuff, especially when the free stuff are more than I expected to receive. Two poker.com hats, a poker.com coffee mug, poker.com beer koozie, poker.com keychain, poker.com bracelets, and my personal favorite, a poker.com card holder coin. It could be used as a dealer button, however I’m liking it guarding the Beer Guy’s cards personally.

This weekend, Dutch Boyd is hosting event number five of the Blogger Poker Tour. He has the password on his blog, which can be found here. From the sounds of it, Dutch is ready to play. The fifth event is slated to begin at 4.30pm EDT this Saturday. Top four finishers qualify for the Grand Finals, where the Blogger Poker Tour will send one skillful blogger (the winner) to the World Series of Poker! Don’t miss out on these events. This a great opportunity to win your way to the WSOP. If you’re a blogger and have a blog (there’s more to blogging than merely having a blog, by the way), register for the tour. Registration is accepted on the blogger poker tour website.

Tomorrow marks the triumphant return of the infamous Friday Mailbag. Until then… See you tonight at AP for the weekly Shark Poker Tour buyin. It seems that Sharky sweetened the prize pool by putting more money added to the prize pool in his weekly poker tournament, making it a $200 money added to the prize pool poker tournament.




CheckRayz Announcements
Poker News
Blogger Poker Tour

Scatter-brained...

I just discovered that CheckRayz have two tournaments scheduled for tonight. First there is the CheckRayz-Celeb heads up poker challenge at 9pm EDT. At 10pm, we're at poker4ever. This was a scheduling error. I totally missed it - never saw it coming. I did not intend to have the tournaments on the same day, for those of you keeping score. I suspect my wide range of focus has caused me to be scatter-brained, and its showing.

My attention to detail has seemed to drop off lately. I typically work on multiple tasks at the same time with little difficulty. In fact, this typically plays to my advantage by having many things going on at once. One of my "known issues" is that I am easily "distracted." One of my friends once talked about how the universe works against him by nature. He "knew" certain things to be true. For example, when he was in a hurry to get somewhere, he'd hit every traffic light in town... and God help him if we were in road construction season. He was often in a hurry, needless to say. Additionally, in his spare time, he loved to read, though he was "always" interupted when he was in the middle of a good book. In fact, interuption after interuption would occur when he found his place.

So, being a logical guy, and a math major with a minor in philosophy, he saw the potential relationship between these two problems of his. He "knew" he'd be slowed down when in a rush, and distracted when in the middle of a good book. So to solve the time issue, he would bring his book with him when on the road. Of course, he'd hit every light/traffic jam in town. When this happens, he opens his book, quickly finding his place. This causes chaos in the universe as "the rules" state he may not read uninterupted, so the traffic jam imediately is relieved, thus he tricks the universe into getting him to his destination on time at the expense of missing out on reading a book he'd never be "permitted" to finish anyways.

I often do something similar. I know that I am easily distracted, as I said above. So, often when I am playing poker, I'll be blogging, or talking strategy to a friend, or scheduling a tournament, or working on a side project. I know if I am not multi-tasking, I will find something less productive to distract me... so I figure why not "pick" that which distracts? Over time, I get good at this and have three tables open, two IM windows, my blog, and four emails to poker reps all going at once. Did I mention I'm also on the telephone?

Yea, I'm taking on too much at once. Its time to slow down, relax a bit, and focus primarily on the main tasks at hand. Contrary to what I'd like to believe, there's a lot that can be accomplished in the 24 hour day. I lost track of the main purpose of the "controlled distraction," which was to productively control that which captures my "side" attention, to more of a distraction out of obligation (I need to get all of this done NOW!). My work is suffering, my game is slightly suffering, and now its right in front of me.

Time to re-focus... Nuff said.

Mike