Day 1c Highlights…

Thanks once again to cardplayer.com for keeping me updated on the play throughout the day.

Day 3 kicks off with “the Unabomber”, Jennifer Harman, Daniel Negreanu, Sammy Farha and company.

Sammy is ousted from play a bit more… just a bit more than an hour into the tournament. On a heart filled board of 9-6-4, Sammy bets into action. The turn brings another six. River delivers a ten. Sammy moves allin and reveals a full house 9’s over sixes. His opposition shows pocket sixes for the quad sixes. Sammy Farha is eliminated.

Jennifer Tilly folds into a reraise, dropping her chip count to 5,200.

Speaking of 5,200, Greg Raymer goes from 5,200 to 11,100 in chips in the first hour. Two hours later, he’d be at 5,400 chips.

Joe Sebok arrives dressed as Spiderman.

Negreanu, fresh off his donk-fest at the rebuy event, begins working his table showing down 10 high and jack high after taking down the last two hands. He has a chip count of 23,000 4 hours.

Onto the Jennifers. Jennifer Harman sits with 1375 chips on the brink of elimination while Jennifer Tilly gets eliminated AJ v A6 (A6 two paired). Harman joins her on the rail shortly after.

Greg Raymer makes a push and brings his count to 15,200.

The Mouth also makes it busto on day 1c, as his set of sevens gets slapped around by a flush that comes on the river.

Back to Daniel Negreanu, as he takes down a 21K pot when he catches his flush on the table. It seems that his opposition allowed him to set the price of the flop and the turn, thus making him a cheap date to catch either his flush or his straight draws. He now sits at 41.5K.

Raymer back down to 7000 after the dinner break. A bit later he finds himself sitting around 16,000. Then 19K. Then down to 6500 when the clock is put on him. He calls and is beat. Today’s play seems to have been quite the roller coaster ride for Greg, which we find Greg sitting at 50K a bit before the end of the day’s play.

Speaking of roller coasters, Mark Seif dipped down to 4500 chips then chipped up a few hands later to 13K when his twos boated on the flop of 3-3-2.

Negreanu continues to be an opening day monster, when he flips over the nut straight vs. a lower straight, chipping him up to 54K, then 78.5K. It sounds as if his donk-fest has rejuvenated him and he’s playing phenomenal poker.

And at 3am PDT, play for Day 1C comes to an end.

Notable Chip Counts at the end of Day 1C

1. Adam Jones 123,000
2. William Thorsson 115,000
14. Daniel Negreanu 78,500
25. Paul Sexton 63,000
35. Greg Raymer 48,900
56. Tom McEvoy 32,000

Eliminated on Day 1

T.J. Cloutier
Phil Gordon
Mike “the mouth” Matusow
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Tilly
Sam Farha
Phil Laak

As for our CheckRayz poker tournaments, the calendar of events is beginning to take form for August. As you can clearly see, we're back and have a full schedule of freeroll and money added poker tournaments. It should be noted, I'm not done building out the calendar, so keep checking back!

Mike

Thanks once again to card player.com for the real time updates.

As usual, Phil Hellmuth is being a tool himself and showing up fashionably delayed. His seat empty as Day 1B begins play. It should be noted that someone of Phil’s “obvious status” is never late, only delayed.

Less than an hour into the tourney, a sick hand plays out… Dramatic preflop raising, reraising, and all-in’ing between three players, all rightfully so. AA v KK v QQ. KK put his hand down preflop, leaving AA v QQ to battle it out. The kings would have been the winning hand, however.
Phil arrives roughly two hours into the tournament.

Mike Caro maintains a monstrous run chipping up to $25K within the opening hours of the tourney.

Roughly four hours and forty-five minutes into the tournament, Phil Hellmuth is ousted from the tourney with a battle of AQ v 7-7. The sevens hold up and Phil is sent to the rail,
Shortly after, Gavin Smith, and Shannon Elizabeth find themselves on the rail.

Nearly six grueling hours into Day 1B, Ron Jeremy manages to stick it in while holding big slick. He nails the money shot on the flop with two pair and he doubles the size of his stack, now sitting at 6,600. He busts about an hour or so later playing King five suited vs. A-10s.

Doyle Brunson is eliminated from play on a checked flop of 10-10-6. A five comes on the turn bringing a third club, which Brunson bets into. River is a 7 of spades. Doyle pushes allin (holding pocket nines). His opposition turns over K-10.

Chris Ferguson continues to accumulate chips, as does Phil Ivey. Jesus chips up to 39.2K, while Ivey sits at 46K.

Notables Chip at the end of Day 1B

1. Eric Sonstegard 83,000
2. Theo Tran 82,950
37. Men “The Master” 33,200
48. Annie Duke 26,000
60. Mike Caro 23,000
67. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson 21,000
79. Phil Ivey 16,000

Eliminated

Phil Hellmuth Jr., Howard Lederer, Gavin Smith, Joe Sebok, Ron Jeremy, Shannon Elizabeth, Todd Brunson, Vanessa Rousso, Doyle Brunson, Evelyn Ng

WSOP Day 1A recap...

Thanks to CardPlayer Magazine, here are some of the highlights of Day 1A of the WSOP:

Norm MacDonald was chipleader, then got mowed down, then eliminated.

Player named Jack Mahalingam pushes allin with pocket 8's (eight spades, eight clubs). Up against pocket fives. 6s, 5s, 5d hits the board, followed by 9s. The one outer... 7s comes giving the striaght flush over quad fives. Grab the man a towel.

A "call bluff" with high card of eight is made.

Mike Sexton, with QQ, eliminates "Action Dan" holding J7s when the fourth heart hits the board, giving Sexton a higher flush.

"Jennicide" got her dates mixed up and was absent for most of the day, only to fight back for the privledge of having her queens lay down vs pocket twos.

Gus Hansen has his aces cracked and is later eliminated 66 v A7o.

David Sklansky doubles his stack, and then some throughout day 1.

Dutch Boyd gets mowed down by eight six not suited. He builds back up, but is eliminated when his opposition calls his allin with Ace ten, bustin up the pocket queens.

One player had pocket aces nine times during day 1a!

Some notable chip counts

1. Paul McCaffrey 111,800
27. Mike Sexton 42,500
30. Barry Greenstein 34,500
35. (like the name) Victor Hammar 33,000
48. David Sklansky 26,000

Mike

highlights from the CheckRayz-Celeb $500 free poker tourney

1. The poker tournament started at 10pm EDT.

2. The tournament was still going when blinds were 200,000/400,000 at 3am EDT, with five players remaining.

3. It became "correct" to not play unless one had pocket aces.

4. Gary812 set a world record for most times folding on the button in a row.

5. Reelcrazy found out why it's not always ok to min raise (although he seems to think that I'd have called an allin with my pocket sixes).

6. The software ended up glitching, causing blinds to not post and the button was froze on Gary.

7. The tournament will be rescheduled.

That being said, we have our makeup tournament scheduled for 10pm EDT on Friday August 4th at 10pm EDT. Once again, this tournament will be a $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament for CheckRayz members. You must have downloaded Celeb's poker room through me, which can also be done right here (download CelebPoker to being raking and enter the private $500 freeroll poker tournament here). Remember, 50 raked hands at .50/1 or above between June 1 and now gets you in!

Mike

CheckRayz Announcements

Donk on the poker table...

Next time you're called a donk, donkey, jackass, fish, tool, SuperDonk, "bad player," crazy, (insert poker insult of choice here), just remember that Daniel Negreanu rebought 48 times during the WSOP No Limit Hold'em with Re-buys tournament, according to the Poker.com blog. This number is believed to be an all time record, and in fact accounted for roughly 2.8% of all the rebuys in the tournament.

In a fit of irony, another donk, Phil Hellmuth Jr. took down the event, netting him his tenth WSOP Bracelet.

Mike

Registration now open for the $500 Celeb Poker Freeroll...

Registration is now open for the CheckRayz $500 promotional freeroll at Celeb Poker. Remember, download through me, fifty raked hands at .50/1 or above qualifies you. The timeframe for these raked hands run from June 1 - tourney start time.

In the event anyone has problems registering for the event and they believe they have met the above criteria, it's in your best interest to contact me via instant messenger or personal email. All of which may be found through the Shark Forum. I caution though, do not wait until the last minute to try to register. I may not be immediately available in the early evening, thus I cannot help. Additionally, the affiliate managers are on a different timezone than most of us who will be playing, thus they may not be available to assist during the evening hours either.

See you tommorrow at Celeb!

Mike

Hey Mike… how bout a blog post some time this year?

OK OK…

So after some time off from blogging and away from the poker table, by popular demand I’m back. Not sure “how” back, but I am in fact back. Got a lil table action in this weekend, first at my bud’s bachelor party, where I took down the ten person tourney just in time to come home to play in the CheckRayz Championships. Way to go Reel, our second quarter champion. It should be noted, Reel is undefeated in CheckRayz tourneys for the second quarter. We’ll see if he can maintain his perfect run when he goes one on one in the steel cage vs. Clayshooter in the title vs. title match. Details to come soon.

Speaking of details, Thursday is the CheckRayz $500 promotional freeroll at Celeb Poker. Download CelebPoker through me, deposit, rake fifty hands at .50/1 or higher, and earn a chance to compete for $500 in a small field. Don’t wait until the last minute to meet the requirements. Get started now!

In other news, I managed to finish a strong 8th in a $3 Noble Poker rebuy tourney yesterday. I was really happy with my play and my reads, in addition to the cash. This follows up my fourth place finish in my “weekly” game. I’m beginning to believe the time away from the tables allowed me to re-focus. That being said, look out at the “monthly” tournament this weekend. Could it be a three-peat for the Beer Guy? Well, not exactly a three-peat, as Mitch stole one won a tournament in between my two wins. In any event, I look to become the first three time winner of the “monthly” game. Only “the shirt” and I have won the tournament twice. Speaking of “the shirt,” he had a strong second place finish in the “weekly” game. Way to go!

My favorite hand from the “weekly” game, I had chipped up as the blinds increased, action folds to me. I look at the hole cards and see the ever so powerful 4-5 suited (to spades) lookin back at me. I think for a second, and throw in a 4x blinds raise. The small blind calls cleanly and the big blind folds. Flow comes 4 clubs -10 spades, eight of spades. The small blind bets out ¾ of the pot, leaving about half the pot behind his bet at best. Obviously this is one of those “moments” where I either move all-in or I fold, for if I call this bet, he’s all-in on the turn no matter what falls. Of course, I have to talk this through out loud. I need all the help I can get making live reads, especially considering I have more time to think it through live than online.

My read on my opposition is one of the following:

Ace of spades - x unsuited, with X being a card lower than nine, 40% likely

King-Queen not suited through king eight not suited, with the king being of spades 25% likely

King-ten suited, King Jack suited, with neither of which being spades 25% likely

Pocket twos (don’t ask) or ace-x suited or king jack suited to spades 10% likely.

If he has a pocket pair higher than twos, he reraises. If he’s playing Ace big suited, once again, he reraises. More than likely if on a flush draw he moves all-in.

So, let’s count up my outs if I am currently behind.

If in fact I am behind, my fives are probably good, giving me three outs clean. My remaining fours are probably clean as well, so we’ll call that two. I’m “probably” good on the flush draw, but we’ll call it eight outs, because it’s very well likely he has either the ace or king of spades. So, we’re looking at roughly 13 outs if I am behind or on a redraw. Additionally, there’s a runner-runner miracle straight on the board. If I am wrong and he’s suited to spades and we flush, I have five outs but still have him covered and have barely enough chips to survive. Although, my M remains between six and ten whether I fold now, or move all-in and lose… Hmmm.

Of course, my opposition interrupts me and says something along the lines of “is this all math to you?” His posture sooooo suggests he wants me to fold. He’s not wanting me to call, nor is he wanting me to move. This really convinces me that I am ahead. He might be on a draw, but I’m ahead. So, I raise to all-in. He gets irritated and calls, and flips over King-Jack of spades to my four five of spades. A five hit’s the turn, giving me two pair and a ten of diamonds hits the board, missing the both of us. I get the old “good game, you prick,” and he’s ousted from the tournament. It should be noted, I don’t think anyone at that tournament, let alone that table could have put me on four-five of spades.

Well, that’s it for now… Who knows, maybe I can put forth a second blog post tomorrow and make it two posts in a row?

Until then…

Mike

Refocus...

So, this past weekend has been dedicated to refocusing on poker. As stated before, I somehow lost focus and found myself unable to make accurate reads, and doing other donk-like things. I stated I believed this was due to both "off table baggage" that needed emptied and maybe too much repitition. Time away from the table would surely be beneficial to both bankroll and state of mind.

So, here I am, making my return to the felt; recommitted, focused, dedicated. Gone are the days of playing to merely pass time. Doing so is -EV. I'm not going to play with the boys unless I plan to win. Again, -EV. I'm not going to open a table, knowing in 20 minutes I have somewhere to be or a call to take. Still, -EV. When it's time for cards, it's time for cards, period. If I can't or won't give it my all, then I won't give at all.

Enter the weekly live card game. I sat focused, let chips fly around me as two of the biggest LAG's in the weekly tournaments were at my table and slinging chips all around. I sat back and let that happen, carefully picking my spots. It would have been fun to get caught up in a pot between them, but it's not my style... and not +EV unless I'm going in with a quality hand and in position. As a result of this discipline, I did not enter a pot with them before they both busted out. I did, however, manage to chip up a time or two before our table broke down.

12 players remaining, blinds increase, action folds to me on the button. Looking down, I see the four-five of spades looking up at me. I throw out a standard 4x blinds raise, thinking total steal. A somewhat short-stacked small blind makes "the call." Big blind folds up shop. The flop comes 4c-10s-8s. Acting first, the SB pushes forth a 3/4 pot sized bet, which leaves him about 1/2 the pot left in his stack. Obviously, my decision is call or fold.

Going through my reps, he thinks I have overcards, I think he has overcards (40% likely in my mind) or an overcard (60% likely) - probably not suited (60% likely). He'd not have just called with a large pocket pair. He's not the type of player to call with a small PP either, though I imagine he "could" do so with twos, but I find it unlikely he'd fire with twos, unless he thought the board didn't help me, which is quite possible. He "could" have King, King-ten, King-Jack, or King Queen. Maybe even queen jack-queen ten, though less likely, unless suited. Maybe "the ace" and a ten? Nah... I don't think he'd call with "the ace" and a big card.

Let's see what I have, relative to the board. Here I sit, bottom pair, shit kicker, and flush draw. IF I am behind, which I do not think I am... I theoretically have outs for redraw with my two remaining fours, and three fives. There's five outs with great certainty. Miracle runner runner
straight is a possibility, but I wouldn't even count that as an out. I do have the luxery of 9 outs, maybe eight for a flush.

There's my 13-14 outs I need... If I am behind or redrawing, that is. I think I am confidently ahead though. Thus, I call. There was good news and bad news to this call, before the turn and river came. The good news is that I was in fact ahead... slightly. The bad news is that he did have overcards, two of them to be exact... King Jack Suited. They were suited to spades though. I knew he was not happy with my calling, based on his commentary while I was talking through my math problem. So, I sit ahead, he has the outs. My hand holds, as the board misses him but gives me two pair (5 on the turn). He ponders assult, as I rake my chips in.

I end up taking fourth place in this tournament, not a bad showing. I managed to maintain interest in the game the entire time. I paid attention to hands I was not in. I made quality laydowns when I read behind. I feel the focus to my game returning. Maybe a break was all I needed.

Mike

Champion Crowned...

Well, the second quarter CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour is now in the record books. Reelcrazy has been crowned the second quarter champion. As an interesteing side note, Reel has won every CheckRayz tourney he has entered this past quarter. Absolutely amazing. Great job! While I was not there for the ending of the tournament, I hear it was exciting with lots of back and forth action.

A key hand while I was there had me limping utg with an M of about ten, six players remaining, and roughly the average stack. Action folded around reel, our chip leader, who puts in a small raise, roughly twice the pot. When limping, this was EXACTLY what I had hoped for. I didn't wish to be heads up with a short stack. Honestly I wouldn't have minded having a shortstack in between, but I wanted our chip leader in the big blind to raise, which he was doing when he seemingly had a hand. So, getting my wish, I re-raise all-in. He's pretty sure he's facing one of four hands (if he counted the hammer in his four), but makes the call, considering he is also in the range. With all my chips in the center of the table and in my most preferred of situations, I watch an ace hit the flop giving him a pair of aces with a king kicker to my pocket pair of kings. Dream situation, variance dictated it wasn't happening tonight.

As a reminder, we have the $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament at Celeb Poker this week. Download Celeb Poker through me, open an account, deposit, and play 50 raked hands at .50/$1 or higher between June 1 and the tourney start date to be eligable for play.

Finally, my "monthly" game is coming up in one week. I have to admit, mentally I am still not "ready for prime time." My reads are getting better, but my head's just not in the game as of late, as I had previously mentioned. This week though, I'll be going through the Hulk Hogan training routine by bleaching my hair, dying my skin, and throwing baby oil all over myself saying my prayers, taking my vitamins, and working hard. I just have to clear my mind and focus. This week, I'll get back into the game.

Good luck to everyone participating in the Shark Vet Series. I'm unable to participate due to my Sunday afternoon committments to my weekly local live games I run.

Mike

change in plans for the shootout...

of course plan A can never work... No seriously, the $300 CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout is showing to take place on Saturday July 22 at 10pm EDT. This means the tourney will not hold on Friday night as originally planned.

Mike

CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout...

Crowning a Champion

CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout at River Belle Poker - Friday 21 July 10pm EDT. Top 15 on the leaderboard have qualified and are able to register for the tournament to crown the second quarter champion at CheckRayz. Clayshooter will be defending his crown, with a pokertracker program on the line as a launch bonus. This $300 by invitation freeroll event will take place at our leaderboard sponsor, River Belle Poker. Additionally, River Belle are offering a buy $20 get up to $300 free promotion.

Top 15 are as follows: gary812, cardluvr, imjusthere4thebeer, BC5457, albafish, vegasjj, lightning36, prince sheba, reelcrazy11, lazrus, runroughshod. chinga2, nitrilocide, clayshooter, texasdan.

Additionally, there will be one special guest at the tourney.

Mike

Steppin' Back...

As I had mentioned previously, I've been having "issues" recently with my poker game, whereas I had a mental block of sorts preventing me from thinking beyond my own hand. For this reason, I've suspended almost all cash games participation for myself until I overcome this block.

One cannot be a successful ring game player while thinking no further than level zero. Typically, I think on my own hand, I think on my opposition's hand, I ponder what he thinks I have, and I ponder what he thinks I think he has. Far cry from the "I have top pair and a decent kicker, thus bet" approach I cannot seem to get beyond recently.

So, because of this deficiency, I've taken a step back from playing poker. I'm still reading on poker, as it's imperative for me to continue learning, but other than select tournaments, I'm not playing.

I am, however, playing a few random casino games here and there, specifically three card poker. My bankroll and I are enjoying the mindless pleasure of clicking and getting paid without much thought what so ever. No longer am I sitting in front of my monitor requiring myself to be so cereberal. Now, I am George Jetson on the job. A quality control rep. Either the Spaceley Sprocket is good (Q-6-4 or better) and I send it to the assembly line, or it's not (Q-6-4 or worse), and thus I reject the sprocket. It's that simple for me.

Did I mention the kickass deposit bonuses some of these casinos have as well? Via the Shark Forum, I came across two that immediately kicked up to $200 in as bonus. One of the casinos allowed me to deposit $35 to begin playing through the $200, the other required $50. Both of those casinos, if I recall correctly, required 10 times play-through, meaning I had to wager the $200 ten times over before I was able to withdraw the bonus amount. I didn't stop there either. I ran down the Kiwi Casino and completed the first leg of their bonus (total of $300 bonus available via Kiwi) in the same manner. I'll be looking to finish up the second leg of that bonus early in the week.

I'm still a poker/hold'em man at heart here. But, these mindless games are hitting the spot, given my present issues. Nothing like remaining just as, if not more productive while struggling with something of this nature, right?

Oh, in case I forgot to mention, Sharky is coming out with a Vegas Strip website very soon. He'll have some of the best casino bonuses on the net available to everyone through the Vegas Strip. Me, I'll dabble in casino promoting via the blog and CheckRayz site. I don't yet foresee a strictly casino site in my near future. In fact, if you're interested, I've started a casino section on the blog. Feel free to click one of the links on the right if it catches your eye. I'll be adding more as I deem it appropriate.

On the agenda today is the weekly game, a bit more 3-cardin'... maybe looking to knock through 2 bonuses by lunchtime, perhaps? And then finally cappin' it off with the second leg of the MSOP. I believe stud is the game of choice tonight.

Mike

third quarter of CheckRayz Leaderboard Tour Begins Tonight...

Tonight we kick off the third quarter of the CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour. Actually, I guess quarters are not quite as accurate. This final lef of the 2006 tour is going to go from July until the end of the year.

There will be some differences in the tour's leaderboard scoring this time around, which are as follows:

1. Heads up play - 40 points per win,

2. Shorthanded events - final table only considered for points (i.e. top six),

3. Regular events - top ten receive points, tenth place receives 1 point,

4. Buy-in multiplier remains the same,

5. Multipliers for "traditional freerolls" (pay out cash and "promotional freerolls" award leaderboard points on a multiplier of .1 per $100 dollars.

6. No leaderboard points awarded for satellite freerolls (freerolls awarding satellite seats to CheckRayz Tournaments).

7. Management reserves the right to modify and/or adjust the rules as he sees necessary.

Mike

more on H.R. 4411

(reprint of email received from poker player's alliance this morning)

On Tuesday, July 11, 2006, American poker players were dealt a bad hand by the U.S. House of Representatives. In a 317 to 93 vote the U.S. House passed H.R. 4411, sponsored by Jim Leach, R-Iowa, which would prohibit banks and credit card companies from processing payments for online gambling bets. It also includes the major provisions of another bill HR 4777 by Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., that would force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access or disable hyperlinks to Web sites that offer online gambling.

Inexplicably, this legislation provides exemptions for online horse betting, Internet lotteries and certain fantasy sports, yet poker and other online games are swept into this prohibition bill.
The Poker Players Alliance has worked tirelessly on your behalf to keep this bill from passing the U.S. House. While our efforts have fallen short today, we have had tremendous success in delivering our message to lawmakers and the media. This fight is far from over and we hope that you will continue to stand with the Poker Players Alliance as we continue to fight to ensure that this misguided legislation does not become law.

Each day our organization is growing in both numbers and influence. I ask that you help us in that effort by encouraging all your friends and family to join the Poker Players Alliance. Whether someone plays poker or not, all Americans who value individual liberty and personal responsibility should be part of our campaign.

Now is not the time to waver, our voices must be heard loud and clear. Members of the U.S. House who voted for this bill should know that you oppose their position and similarly, those who voted against it should be applauded for their courageous stand. A list of the recorded vote is available by going to http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll363.xml. Please see how your Representative voted then call or write to let he or she know how you feel.

Again, we are grateful for your dedication to our cause and we share your love for this game.

Sincerely,

Michael Bolcerek

Poker Players Alliance Responds to House Vote Banning Online Poker

Washington, D.C.(July 11, 2006) — Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would prohibit Americans from playing poker on the Internet.

"We are disappointed that the House of Representatives would assail the rights of Americans to enjoy the great game of poker on the Internet. It is unconscionable that a skill game like poker gets swept into the net of prohibition, while online horse betting and Internet lotteries get free passes," said Mr. Bolcerek.

"The United States should follow the lead of the United Kingdom by regulating and taxing online poker, not banning it. An economic analysis just released by our organization shows that U.S. regulation of online poker has the potential to raise more than $3.3 billion in annual revenue for the federal government, in addition to another $1 billion for state coffers. We hope that this analysis will give a fresh perspective for U.S. Senators about the benefits of regulation.
"The Poker Players Alliance is undeterred in its mission to promote and protect the game of poker and we will continue to advance the cause on behalf of poker players in the United States."

A copy of the Poker Players Alliance economic analysis can be found at www.pokerplayersalliance.org.

H.R. 4411 clears the house...

H.R. 4411, known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has passed vote in the house today. Care to see how your congressman voted? Apparantly my congressman failed to "keep my views in mind" as he had promised to do. I'm really uncertain who is running against my congressman this year, however, I can say with absolute certainty he will not be re-elected.

Next stop for this bill is the senate.

Mike

Celeb Poker $500 freeroll Update / CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout news...

As you all may know, we've had affiliate side issues with celeb poker over the last few weeks. Players were downloading, but not tracking to me. Additionally, the scheduled tournaments were not visible to our players. We have resolved these issues and are ready to proceed with the CheckRayz $500 Promotional Freeroll at Celeb Poker. Because there were issues, Celeb and I have decided to reschedule the event to the end of the month.

The $500 freeroll will now be held on 7/27 at 10pm EDT. Additionally, we'll have the first event of the third quarter CheckRayz Leaderboard tour on 7/14 at 10pm, which will be the heads up challenge. Anyone who is interested first needs to ensure they've downloaded through me. 1. If you've yet to download Celeb's poker room, you may do so using this link to Celeb Poker.

2. To verify you're properly tracking through me, open the Celeb Poker software, and scroll down. If you can see a tournament on 7/14 and another on 7/27 (both 10pm EDT, which is GMT-4), then you're one of mine. People who do not download through me are unable to see these tournaments. It should be noted that Celeb's default timezone is GMT, so do the math and adjust accordingly.

3. To qualify for this promotional freeroll, one must rake 50 hands.

4. Registration for this event will be open 24 hours prior to tournament start.

5. I will be available by email, instant messenger, and telephone on the day before and day of to assist players in regestering in the event there are issues, however, I caution anyone on waiting until the last minute to rake their hands. 6. I'll be available via email for anyone wishing to verify their raked hands count. I will need the six digit pin number in order to verify your hands. I reccommend not posting your pin on the forum however. Recap : $500 freeroll, on and rescheduled. 50 raked hands gets you "on the bus." $50 heads up kicking off the quarter.

In other news...

On wednesday, I expect to have information confirming the CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout for the second quarter. The things I can confirm presently:

1. Despite not being top ten, Clayshooter will be eligable to defend his crown.

2. Should he choose to do so, there will be a launch bonus on him of some sort.

3. In making a command decision, I'm making it a top 15 tournament, plus I am awarding one guest spot as a token of appreciation. This decision is based on numerous factors.

Time, date, amount and location, I expect to announce on Wednesday...

Stay tuned,

Mike


CheckRayz Announcements

emotionally in check...

Speaking from personal experience, I believe that in order for one to be successful on the poker tables, one must have his or her emotions in check. I play a tight aggressive game, for the most part. I have a disciplined starting hand selection, and I'm not afraid to use it. Having discipline preflop, however, is not going to win you massive chips in the cash games, nor is it going to win tourney after tourney. One must rely on post-flop playing skills, which include reading your opposition in order to deepen the bankrolls and take down tourneys.

Generally speaking, I am great at reading people. Whether it be in life or on the felt, I generally make great reads very quickly. While this is "usually" the case, there are definitely times when I do not make great reads... Times when I am prone to mis-reading, mis-playing everything. I find that when I am meeting people (in life, on the table), and I'm carrying "unresolved baggage," I make poor reads. This is of course if I'm even able to make a read.

I find that when I'm going through "shit" so to speak, I can't make a read at all. I shut myself down. I won't emotionally engage. I lack the ability to see into one's soul, to look another in the eye. And getting on the poker table when in such an unresolved state is a disaster in the making for me.

I begin pushing my hands, bullying the table, taking out my frustrations on the table. This isn't necessarily different from the norm, well, other than the motivation is different than when I normally push peeps around on the table.

For starters, when "irritated" I seem to forget what the hell position is. This ends up burning me, as I'm just playing hands. Additionally, I lack the ability to figure out if I am behind or not. I don't even think about making reads. I resort to just simply knowing how strong my hand is. I become one of those players who I swear have no clue that the opposition even has cards. I make no reads, I seemingly care less as to whether or not I'm behind. In fact, it seems that I'm just looking to get chips into the center of the table win or lose.

As one could imagine, this eventually comes back to bite me in the ass. While it's not "totally" true that I don't think about reads, I begin playing with fire. I think to myself "there's NO WAY he has a three in his hand" when the flop comes 5-3-3 and he's just come over top of me. Or when someone is on an apparant blind steal at a rather insignificant blind level in a tournament I think "they are just messing with me," and I all-in with nothing, because they "can't possibly" have anything strong.

My point, don't make the mistake of playing through a bad week... nuff said. Back to normal writing tommorrow.

Mike

Sleepless nights, a day late and well over “three-fitty” short…

So much for the “I’ll begin regular writing either the next day or the day after.” I did really have all intentions of beginning the writing again on July 5. We went from my modem blowing over the weekend to my creative side blowing a gasket. Unfortunately one nearly sleepless night after another produces on hell of a case of writer’s block.

Additionally, in efforts to combat insomnia and/or writer’s block, I do not recommend either of the following activities:

1. Trying to play yourself to sleep. Correction, if you do, play freerolls or very low limit sit n gos. Do not play your regular level cash games (I am stuck about three-fitty from trying “play myself to sleep.”

2. Trying to “play through the writer’s block.” You will not be inspired to write. Additionally, with no sleep you are not very creative. The only thing you will end up with is a set of pocket tens and the conviction that “they can’t possibly have played exactly King Queen or exactly 8-7 that way. My set has to be good and he has to have aces or kings, and the other guy has either ace big or an under pair,” which then turns into what your sleepless mind believes is a “bad beat story” even though you believe there’s no such thing as a “bad beat” only a bad play or a bad read.

3. Getting ballsy with a sub-par hand near the bubble when the button and cutoff just know you’re in the mood to come out of the BB swinging, especially when said cutoff and buttons are Sharky and Born respectively.

4. Believing for one second that you can either read a book for mastery of context or proofread something suitable for print.

5. Give someone directions as to how to get to your house. It is just not going to happen.
Anyways, next time I do not sleep for two to three days straight, I will better know what not to do.

As a reminder, I'll be moving the CheckRayz server this weekend and into next week. Once we get moved and verify we're up and running, we'll resume our tournament play. Additionally, look for a mid-day update on the CheckRayz $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament both here and in the shark forum later today. Next week, we'll discuss the second quarter tour championship, confirming a date, time and location.

Mike

quick update...

I've been "gone" the past few days because my modem decided to smoke check itself. Gotta love when that happens. I "should" resume regular posting tommorrow, but reserve the right to wait until Thursday, as I am so far behind schedule with everything its not funny.

I want to do a quick tip of the beer mug to the peeps that made the blogger poker tour happen. This includes the great people at poker.com and all of the bloggers who participated. It took me nearly two hours to actually get to the tournament (due to said modem smoking), but I made my presence known once I showed up (I doubled through twice in the first ten hands of my arrival). Additionally, I hit what I believe to be just short of a miracle hand, which played out as follows:

I raise all-in second to act, taking on two callers. All three of us are all-in. I'm holding QJs, opponent number one is sporting pocket jacks, opponent number two has ace queen suited. Flop comes down x-x-Q. Turn comes a jack, and the river brings the case queen.

Later on, and by later on, I mean ten hands or so later, ohiomike bust me out with KJs to my ace-nine suited. We were both of diamonds, two diamonds hit the flop, river brought his king, nh gg, I'm on the rail. No regrets though, as I finished 8th, made the final table and played the way I wanted to play... when I finally showed up.

On the home front, we have the first event for the MSOP at high noon today. Imma come out firing. Yes, that does mean that the lucky bracelet and I are predicting a win for the MSOP.

Mike