A couple of tough days

2008-03-04T21:13:00.000-08:00

I would have written this post last night if not for some heckling I received for owning a poker blog in the first place. So let me say this. Poker is fun, it is NOT a job and it is NOT a necessity in my life for anything other than pleasure. It is no different than any other hobby or activity. I refuse to feel ashamed or embarrassed about liking poker just because of its negative stereotypes in American culture. Poker not only can be great for your wallet, but teaches you skills like evaluating situations, decision making, discipline and staying level headed. I find similar feelings found about being Greek. At home in New York, people don't understand what a great thing Greek life can be because they think they know what its like, but they really have no idea. Despite its stereotypes, Greek life can offer great opportunities to give back to the community, gain leadership skills, network, improve your academics and most importantly gain life long friends (both in your organization and other organizations). Hopefully in the next few years people can start to see the other side of poker and realize what a great resource, hobby and possibly profession it can be.

Yesterday I decided to deposit $50 onto FTP. I played in some .05/.10 and wasn't profitable by only a few $ after a couple hours of playing. At the same time, I played in more than a few $2-$3 MTT's but only cashed in 1. I got especially frustrated in the Daily Double A and B. I had been playing sub-par entering these tournaments but felt a lot of it came from some rust more than anything so I was feeling good about these 2 $10+$2 tournaments.

It wasn't that I played particularly poor in these tournaments but it seemed that every time I tried to raise, I got reraised and reraised big preflop. If they didn't raise, we would see a flop and I would try to take the pot with a bet after not hitting the flop at all and they would check raise all-in. I just simply could not get anything going and sometimes that will happen. I busted without cashing in either but was satisfied with my play on the whole. I did go deep in one tournament towards the end of the night; a $2, 1 add-on, 1 rebuy tournament. About 160 started and for whatever reason they only paid 15. I hit some big hands early and rode it to an early chip lead at the first break. I continued playing smart aggressive building my stack and coasting for the most part to the final 2 tables. The play was TERRIBLE and I really felt like I could easily come in the top 4 or 5 and without taking a beat win it for about $180 profit. Unfortunately a hand came up with 13 players left and the UTG player raised. I pushed in with AK in middle position and after 2 callers the original raiser pushed all in and both players called. The flop came Ah-8d-5s. The 2 remaining players checked despite few chips. The turn was a 10 and one of the players pushed in and had 10-10. I was drawing dead. The pot would have put me in the top 4, oh well. I can't do much more in that situation other than have accumulated more chips earlier.

Tonight I decided to play in the Midnight Madness on Full Tilt Poker for $10+1. I got off to a rough start possibly by not being aggressive enough. I raised with AQo in early position and got 2 callers, both in later position then me. After checks on the flop I turned a double gutted (and 2 overs) and faced a bet from last position of just over 1/2 the pot. I called, missed and lost the hand. After calling a small raise with 88 and also not hitting I was quickly down to 1000 chips (started with 1500). I got AQ again, this time in the cutoff facing a 2x raise from utg+1.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5506341728: Midnight Madness! (41207632), Table 88 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:14:29 ET - 2008/03/05
Seat 1: ix Rodriguez xi (680)
Seat 5: Elon_Poker23 (1,040)
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Elon_Poker23 [Ad Qh]
ATM666 folds
ix Rodriguez xi raises to 120
zoomzoom99 folds
Lunchboxx22 folds
mauzinho2 folds
Elon_Poker23 calls 120
NDPDuke folds
Buckman7 folds
play36 folds
*** FLOP *** [Ah 7h 9d]
ix Rodriguez xi checks
Elon_Poker23 bets 100
ix Rodriguez xi raises to 320
Elon_Poker23 raises to 560
ix Rodriguez xi calls 240, and is all in
Elon_Poker23 shows [Ad Qh]
ix Rodriguez xi shows [Ac 4s]
*** TURN *** [Ah 7h 9d] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 7h 9d 4c] [Jh]
Elon_Poker23 shows a pair of Aces
ix Rodriguez xi shows two pair, Aces and Fours
ix Rodriguez xi wins the pot (1,420) with two pair, Aces and Fours

I think I played the hand alright because I affectively got his chips into the middle of the pot on the flop. Safe to say I was out a few hands later and lasted all of 20 minutes in the MM. Hopefully I'll get back out there tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow night.

A "Mission Statement" for this blog

2008-03-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Cory's Poker Blog has been made to serve 3 main purposes. These may alter or shift throughout the time the blog is being written but it is important for myself and my readers to understand why this was created in the first place.

1. Keep a record of my results so that it is easy for me to track profits/losses over a given week/month/year. I need to have answers for myself as to not only IF im profitable but to how profitable I am in the long run. Additionally, every hand that I post will be education for me to think about as I am writing it down and rereading it at a later point in time. Learning is one of the key ingredients to any poker players development and this blog will serve as one of my educational tools.

2. A resource for my friends and family to find updates about my poker successes and failures. It is important that they know if I'm doing well/poorly because if they start to have confidence in me it will hopefully result in me having more confidence in myself. This will also serve as a "soccer mom" type of affect where it is always nice to have people supporting you through your hobbies, win or lose.

3. A place that I can post my thoughts and feelings about given issues. I think it is important for me to have somewhere that I can post different things, hopefully most of which will involve poker, so that I will have them written down and published forever.

I think that it is also important to note what this blog is NOT created to do. Again, my goals for the blog may shift but to start, this blog was not created with any of the following goals in mind.

1. Be well written. Although I will try to make it as fluid and well spoken as I can, I refuse to spend an excessive amount of time rereading each blog like a term paper so that it is published with perfect spelling and grammer. Although I hope my writing skills improve over the course of the blog's existance, the writing skills of each blog are not at all important to me.

2. To tell bad beats as sob stories. If a beat is important for one reason or another, it will be told. Additionally, if I am feeling upset or a given hand/beat, I will make note of it because it is important for learning purposes. However, it is important to note that I will try to never write a blog whose purpose is to gain sympathy from the reader.

3. Boast to my friends and family. Like I said earlier, I would like the support and appreciation of my peers but I will not use this blog as a way for me to brag about my accomplishments. Although that may happen, I will be as objective as I possibly can. Then again, lets just hope by the end of this I have something to brag about . . .

Who knows what this blog will turn into. It may end up strictly as a page that posts hand histories and charts of profitability or it may turn into a journal about life. However, I believe if I stick to the 3 purposes that are in this very first blog entry I think that this will turn into something great and will last for a very long time. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I will.